When Legends were Young
by Le Kung Fu Dude
Summary: All legends have a beginning; Master Shifu is one of the greatest Kung Fu Masters of all time. But how did he start out? What has he gone through to get to where he is now? To find out, we take a look at Shifu's past and how his life has come to be and how it has intertwined with several other Masters - both future friends and enemies. A Legends of Awesomeness from the past.
1. First Day

WAIT! Before you read, check my profile! There is a certain link, which will lead you to the theme song of this fanfic! Yup, that's right! I actually made a theme song for it! It's my first real attempt, so hopefully I did an okay job. ;) Enjoy it, as well as this story!

Kung Fu Panda is owned by Dreamworks Animations.

* * *

_He was all alone. It just hit him right there. A tear slowly made its way down his cheek. Why, he asked himself. How and why had his own father just left him there? How could he?!_

_ The twelve-years old did not want to cry, but the tears just kept coming._

_ Was it because of him that his father had left? What had he done wrong?_

_ "Hello there, little one." The red panda looked up. Through his tears, the little panda saw him, standing there in front of him, the sunset casting a bronze color onto his shell._

_ "Why are you crying?" the tortoise continued, carefully wiping a tear away from the red panda's cheek with his long finger claw._

_ "I-… I don't know where my dad is," the red panda cried._

_ "You don't know?" the tortoise asked confused. "Where do you live, little one?"_

_ He shook his head as another tear made its way down his cheek._

_ "H-he told me… told me to wait here for five m-minutes," he cried._

_ "And he has not returned?" the tortoise asked._

_ Unable to speak further, the red panda simply shook his head, while wiping off his tears with the back of his hand. The old tortoise thought about the entire situation for a while._

_ This all seemed like something too convenient to be a mistake; the red panda's father had consciously left his son._

_ But why? Why would anyone disband their child like this? Having left him at Jade Palace, who knew if it wasn't because he wanted his son to train as a Kung Fu student?_  
_ Granted, the old tortoise knew nothing about the red panda's father. But maybe he wanted to give his son better chances than what he had had himself._

_ "Little friend, you do not have to cry," the tortoise said with a warm smile. The red panda looked up at the tortoise with tear-filled eyes. "You are more than welcome to stay here at Jade Palace until your father returns."_

_ "Does that mean that I… I can have a bed?" he asked, not having owned one before._

_ The tortoise nodded. "Of course you can, little one. My name is Oogway – I am a Master at this palace."_

_ "A Master? Of what?"_

_ "Kung Fu, young one," Oogway replied. "I can teach you if you so desire."_

_ "Yes," the young red panda said, feeling the desire to learn this so-called Kung Fu. Suddenly he had forgotten that he had been crying moments ago. "Please teach me!"_

_ "Very well," Oogway said calmly. "What is your name, little one?"_

_ "My name… my name is Shifu."_

* * *

"Ah~… I'm already late," Shifu muttered to himself in a panicking tone of voice. He quickly got the robe around his waist secured and hurried out of his room.

It was a very special day and all, so why did it have to be this day that the red panda overslept?!

It was the day of the arrival – of the new students! Shifu had been looking forwards to this! Master Oogway had told the young panda that he would learn even more if he was studying alongside fellow students.

Hungry for more knowledge and wisdom, Shifu had of course been happy to hear this.

Exiting the barracks, Shifu hurried towards the Hall of Warriors. Hopefully Oogway hadn't started the introduction yet – even better, maybe the new students hadn't even shown up yet!

Making his way across the courtyard of the Jade Palace, Shifu quickly entered the Hall of Warriors. Hurrying up the long hallway, Shifu made his way to the end.

There he found his Master in front of the many scrolls of the Jade Palace. Walking in a half-circle around the Moon Pool, Shifu quickly looked up, catching a glimpse of the legendary Dragon Scroll.

The scroll was what dreams were made of; a mystical scroll, kept safe from the world in the jaws of a golden dragon statue. Shifu knew the legend about it and the Master to use it, the Dragon Warrior. Who knew, maybe Shifu was the one!

"Master Oogway!" Shifu panted as he finally got to his Master. Shifu was about to apologize for being late, but was hushed by the old tortoise Master. Shifu lowered his ears, believing that he was _way_ too late and felt how his cheeks grew warmer and warmer with embarrassment.

"There is no reason to be shouting, Shifu," Oogway said calmly, surprising Shifu. "The sound travels at the same speed, no matter the distance between us."

"But… am I not late?" Shifu asked confused. "Haven't the newcomers arrived?"

"No, not yet, Shifu," Oogway said, as the old tortoise picked up one of the countless scrolls. After looking into it for a while, he slowly put it back on the shelf. Soon after Master Oogway repeated this, picking another scroll.

"Eh… Master?" Shifu asked innocently with his hands behind his back.

"Yes?" Oogway asked.

"What are you looking for in those scrolls?" Shifu asked, having always been somewhat impatient. "Maybe I can help you – that way you'll find it sooner."

"That is not necessary, young one," Master Oogway said calmly.

"But the new students…"

"Exactly," Oogway said with a smile. "You will be the one to show them around."

"Me?" Shifu asked surprised.

Master Oogway nodded, looking at his young student with a smile. "I have faith that you will be the perfect person to do the job."

"You really think so?" Shifu asked, ears perking up. The red panda always got excited when Oogway said such things, always wanting to make his master proud.

"Of course, Shifu," Oogway replied. "If I did not, why would I be saying so?"

Just as Master Oogway finished, someone knocked on the door to the Hall of Warriors. Shifu's ears perked up and the red panda hurried down to open the door.

Shifu opened the door and was faced with a leopardess. She was covered in golden fur all over with black spots and she wore a short-sleeved, blue Kung Fu jacket with black trims as well as black pants.

"Eh… hello," Shifu said, trying to sound confident – as if he was used to greeting visitors, which he definitely wasn't.

"Hi," she said. "So… are you Master Oogway?"

"No, my name is Shifu," Shifu introduced himself.

"Ai Long," the leopardess introduced herself as the two quickly bowed for one another.

"But you've come to the right place – if you look for Master Oogway, I mean," Shifu explained, somewhat awkwardly. "But please come inside."

Ai Long came inside with a giggle and Shifu shut the door. As the two walked down the Hall, someone suddenly knocked on the door again. Shifu stopped and told Ai Long to go ahead, then walked as fast as he could back to open the door.

"Hello, welcome to Jade Palace," Shifu greeted the rooster that stood outside.

"Hi there," the rooster said casually. He was covered in brown and crimson feathers and wore green robes with brown trims. "So this is it?"

"Yes, it is," Shifu said with a smile. "My name is Shifu. Please come inside; Master Oogway is waiting."

"Thanks," the rooster said. "Oh, and my name is Yun."

Shifu and Yun walked down the hall towards where Master Oogway was waiting, but Shifu didn't get far; soon it knocked on the door again. With a sigh, Shifu hurried down to open the door… again.

"Hello, welcome to Jade Palace," Shifu repeated himself.

"Yeah, that's nice, shorty," the elephant said. He stepped inside, almost stepping on Shifu. "I'm here for Master Oogway – no one else."

"I figured," Shifu muttered, somewhat annoyed by the way the elephant acted towards him. The elephant wore dark gray robes with black trims and they seemed to be made of some quite fine material.

Shaking his head silently, Shifu followed the somewhat impatient elephant into the Hall once again. Finally Shifu and his three new companions were gathered in front of Oogway.

It was still somewhat strange to Shifu – the thought of studying alongside other students. His entire life, he had been the sole student of Master Oogway.

"Very well," Master Oogway finally said once all four students were gathered. The old tortoise was about to continue, but suddenly someone knocked on the door again. "Oh, it seems there is one more student, who will join us. Shifu, would you please…?"

"Of course, Master," Shifu said, ears dropping in annoyance at the fact that someone was just arriving late like that.

"Hello, welcome to Jade Palace," Shifu said for the fourth time that day. He was somewhat surprised when he was met by a pair of clear, purple eyes. There was a natural shine of intellect and power to them – none like he had ever seen before.

"Hello to you too," the female owl said. From the looks of it, she came from a somewhat rich family – her robes were violet with a golden trim, and she seemed to wear a fiery red dress beneath those. What surprised Shifu the most was how much younger she looked compared to himself and the three other students that had recently arrived.

"… So… you're also here to study?" Shifu asked.

She nodded. "Yes, I came a long way… Oh, my name is Fenghuang… by the way."

"Fenghuang… My name is Shifu," Shifu introduced himself with a smile. Smiling at him, Fenghuang followed him into the Hall of Warriors.

"Wow… just look at this place," Fenghuang said with an impressed tone of voice, looking around on the various ornaments and artifacts of the hall. Even though there wasn't really much besides a few weapons and a few wall scrolls. "All of this stuff…"

"This is the Hall of Warriors," Shifu explained, smiling at how amazed the young owl looked. "All of these things belonged to passed-away Kung Fu Masters."

"So it's like a museum in their honor?" Fenghuang asked impressed.

Shifu shrugged. "Well… I suppose you could say so."

Finally the two got to the Moon Pool, still talking, which was only interrupted by Oogway clearing his throat.

Blushing and with his ears lowered, Shifu walked up so that he stood in the middle of the line that he and his new fellow students formed. The five stood there for a few seconds before Oogway started talking.

"And now that all of us are here," Oogway started slowly. "I suppose a presentation is appropriate. My name is Master Oogway."

Everyone but Shifu bowed to Master Oogway, since Shifu didn't feel like the introduction was aimed towards him.

"You have all come here to learn, haven't you?" Oogway continued, supporting himself by his long staff.

"Master, I am willing to follow you," the leopardess said in a wise-sounding tone of voice, bowing for Oogway. Everyone else bowed as well to show that they were willing as well.

"Very well, students," Master Oogway said in a calm tone of voice, a smile on his face. "From this day on a new era starts."

"A new era?" Shifu asked surprised. Did the old tortoise really mean that the mere presence of the five students combined was somehow the background for a new era to begin?

Master Oogway nodded again, tapping his staff onto the floor a couple of times. "The era… of the Furious Five."

Following that, there was a brief silence. No one spoke – no one dared speak. But finally that silence was broken by Fenghuang. "Furious Five...? I like the sound of that."


	2. Acceptance

"Students," Master Oogway said calmly. "For your first lesson, I would like to see how much you already know about Kung Fu."

The six were outside on the palace's courtyard. It was about early afternoon and Shifu had just finished showing the new students around. The Furious Five were gathered, standing on a row before Master Oogway.

"What are the most important things when training Kung Fu?" the wise tortoise Master asked.

Shifu, Ai Long and Fenghuang quickly made sure to show that they knew by sticking their hand (And wing in Fenghuang's case) in the air. Oogway nodded for them to speak what they had in mind.

"Discipline, dedication, patience and training," the three said in unison, almost as if it was planned.

With a satisfied smile, Master Oogway nodded. "That is correct. Now, can anyone tell me what the key to Kung Fu is?"

There was a moment of silence where only Shifu had a hand in the air. Finally Yun put a wing into the air. Oogway nodded at him, and Yun said, "Inner… Peace, perhaps? At least that's what I've heard…"

"Very good," Master Oogway said. Shifu immediately felt pressured; he had been a student of Oogway's longer than they had, yet, Shifu himself hadn't been chosen to answer any questions.

"Yet, I do not expect that you will obtain it anytime soon," Master Oogway said, surprising all the students greatly.

"Well, then what is the point of training?" Lumang asked, crossing his enormous arms.

"Excellent question, Lumang," Master Oogway said, even though the answer was obvious. "Can any of you answer Lumang's question?" Shifu quickly put a hand into the air, but was frankly ignored. "Ai Long?" Ai Long shrugged, not sure if she could. "Yun?" The rooster thought about it for a moment, then shook his head. "Fenghuang?"

"I'd say that the point of training is to unlock inner peace…" the young owl started, somewhat insecure. "… Is _through_ training and meditation, right?"

"Correct," Master Oogway said calmly. Shifu could feel himself getting annoyed; Oogway was completely ignoring him – he was certain now! Impatiently, Shifu crossed his arms and sighed to himself.

"Now, how many of you already know Kung Fu?" Master Oogway asked. Shifu was the only one to raise his hand this time. None of the others knew Kung Fu besides in theory!? How could they ever have hoped to be able to study here?!

Master Oogway seemed very surprised by this. "Oh… it seems that we will have to start from the bottom."

Shifu's ears got into a rather awkward position due to annoyance, but no one seemed to notice. He could **_NOT _**work with this! How had Oogway imagined that Shifu would be able to train with a bunch of beginners?

"Well, actually, I do know some basics," Fenghuang quickly replied, once she noticed Shifu. Soon the others also agreed, though none of them knew anything besides a few basic punching and kicking techniques.

This calmed Shifu's nerves a little, which Fenghuang noticed and she sent him a little smile. Shifu returned it, though a little half-hearted, causing Fenghuang to put on a more dull facial expression when Shifu looked over at Master Oogway again.

"Then we will start by seeing how much you can already do," Master Oogway said. Suddenly he turned to Shifu. "Shifu, you are not needed for this – I already know you well enough. I believe I will spend the rest of the day with your new fellow students. You can have the rest of the day off."

Shifu bowed to his Master, then left for the village below the palace. With relief Shifu exited the gate to the palace. It really stressed him – the thought of having to study alongside these newbies.

Sure Oogway had said that it would help Shifu learn; sure Shifu had been excited. But how could he learn if he didn't learn from them? How would he even be able to learn anything new at all?

Making his way down the staircase, Shifu headed towards Mr. Ping's noodle shop. The old goose made some formidable noodle soups, which the restaurant was known for. Hopefully a delicious meal could help clear off the red panda's thoughts.

Shifu entered the restaurant and was greeted by Mr. Ping's son, Wu, whom Shifu didn't really talk to, but he still knew his name.

"Hi, Shifu," the young goose greeted the red panda as he entered.

"Hi, Wu," Shifu replied with a smile.

"What would you like?" Wu asked. The young goose was about the same age as Shifu, maybe a little younger.

"Just the usual," Shifu replied shortly. "And a few dumplings."

"Coming right up," Wu replied and went to the desk, behind which his father was, making the food. As Wu started serving some food for some of the other costumers, Shifu sat down by an empty table, placing his left elbow on the table, using his hand to support his head as he sighed.

Shifu eventually started writing on the table with his right index finger. It wasn't like it was visible after he was done, but the imaginary images were still there to Shifu. He wrote the important things about Kung Fu; discipline, dedication, training and patience.

Patience… That had never really been Shifu's biggest strength. And maybe that was what kept him so stressed with the new students. But was that why Oogway had even decided to take them in? Just to train Shifu?

Shifu's thoughts were interrupted though, when a bowl of noodle soup was placed in front of him.

"Thanks," Shifu said and paid Wu the money. Shifu did not have very much money, but fortunately the prices in Mr. Ping's noodle shop weren't very high, even despite the high demand.

"Enjoy," Wu said as he left Shifu alone with his noodles and dumplings. Shifu's thoughts and stress was soon gone as the red panda started eating. No, there was nothing like Mr. Ping's noodles!

At first Shifu tried to enjoy the food, eating it somewhat slow. But eventually he sighed to himself, then rushed through the meal as he got somewhat bored – just a bad habit of his.

Shifu spent a little longer on the dumplings, given that they were too big for him to eat quickly.

"You know, your food tastes better if you enjoy it," Wu chuckled in a teasing tone of voice once he came to take away Shifu's empty bowl.

"I do… just at a different velocity," Shifu replied in a dull tone, continuing with his dumplings. Soon Shifu was also done with these and decided to go for a walk to see, if something special was happening in the village.

It didn't seem so, but there were especially many people at the marketplace this day.

But before he knew it, Shifu had seemingly spent all day in the village. As he decided to head home, he noticed that the sun was starting to set in the west, though the sky wasn't very orange yet.

"Help, stop the thief!" Shifu heard someone yell. The red panda's ears twitched and he quickly ran towards where he had heard the yelling come from. Just as Shifu turned around a corner of a building, he was faced by a group of baboons.

They were at least ten and as soon as the primates saw him, they quickly stopped. Six of them were carrying some large fabric sacks over their shoulders – obviously containing stolen goods.

The baboon gang quickly turned around and ran. Shifu, being the good student he was, followed closely behind, running as fast as he could. As the way ahead of them split in two, the baboon gang quickly split in two, running each direction.

Wasting no time, Shifu followed the group that ran to the right. They didn't manage to escape, and the baboons realized this. Soon they were terrorizing the alley, turning over every possible item that was within their reaches.

Still following them, Shifu's way was suddenly blocked by a turned over wagon from which a lot of different fruit and greens had been spilled onto the ground.

Doing a front flip, Shifu easily and gracefully made his way across the obstacle. As the bandits turned around another corner, Shifu immediately knew that they were heading for the marketplace.

Fortunately Shifu knew a shortcut and instead chose to take a different alleyway.

The baboons of course thought that they had lost the red panda that followed them and made a final run for it. But when the primates came to the marketplace, they were cut off by the same red panda.

"Hold it right there," Shifu said, taking on a battle stance. "I can't allow you to continue."

The baboons simply started laughing at Shifu. Shifu just ignored them, keeping up his battle stance. Shifu noticed that there were already some baboons at the marketplace, seemingly ones that had been robbing the stands.

"How cute," one of them remarked in a harsh tone of voice. "The little panda wants to stop us!"

All of his comrades started laughing at this and suddenly several other baboons joined the already big group. They came from different alleys that all led to the marketplace. Obviously they had all been robbing different parts of the village and had planned to meet on the marketplace.

"But how will he do against an army?" the leader laughed. He wore some brown robes, although they weren't as torn as those of his minions. The baboon leader then snapped his fingers and various baboon bandits were about to attack the red panda.

Shifu stayed in his battle stance, not moving an inch, but suddenly something large plowed through the baboons. Shifu raised an eyebrow in confusion, but then he saw that it was Lumang.

The elephant managed to knock out a few baboons, using both his fists and his trunk. For a newbie, it was actually impressive – at least somewhat, according to Shifu.

"What are you doing here?" Shifu asked the big elephant once he had made his way over to Shifu and taken on a battle stance with his back towards Shifu's.

"What does it look like?" Lumang asked as if it wasn't obvious enough. "We're here to save your tail!"

"We?" Before Shifu could have an answer, someone suddenly came running across a rooftop. She jumped into the air and after two elegant front flips, she landed right next to Shifu.

"Tada~!" Ai Long said in a joyful tone of voice. She stood so that she, Shifu and Lumang formed a triangle, taking on a battle stance.

"What is this?" the baboon leader growled. "Now there are three of you!?"

"Correct," Ai Long replied. "And still more to come!"

"More?" the baboon leader asked confused, but his question was soon answered.

"Ha! Woo-hi-ya! Yah, yah, yah, YAH!" With every noise that Yun made, a baboon flew into the air, kicked aside by the rooster. With a short, somewhat awkward, flight, Yun made it to the others.

Just like Ai Long and Sheng before him, he took on a battle stance with his back turned towards the others', forming a half-circle.

Shifu broke his stance and looked at the others. It was as if they had changed – as if the rookies he had met this morning were all… transformed into decent apprentices.

Suddenly Shifu noticed something. "Wait, where's Fenghuang?"

"There she is," Ai Long said, nodding towards the sky.

Just as she said so, the eagle owl's talons smashed against the shoulders of a baboon, pinning him to the ground. Fenghuang then jumped off and glided over beside Shifu where she took on a battle stance just like the others.

Now forming a complete circle, the five seemed quite a bit more menacing than Shifu had on his own. Shifu was still very surprised by the level of skill that the new students had shown. But how?

"Wait, how did you guys get so good so fast?" Shifu wondered.

"Crash course, silly," Ai Long giggled. Shifu simply nodded, as if it made sense, then turned towards the baboon leader.

"You guys will be handing back everything you stole," Shifu said, getting back into his battle stance.

"Who do you guys think you are?" the baboon leader growled.

"We are…" Shifu thought for a moment, but instead of the optional choice, he said, "We're someone who's here to stop you!"

At this the baboon leader simply roared for his minions to attack the Five.

"Alright, guys," Ai Long said. "Just like what Master Oogway taught us earlier – go!"

Shifu basically ignored this as it was seemingly not meant for him. But suddenly the others charged into the direction that they faced. Shifu was somewhat surprised at first, doing nothing but watch them.

But eventually the red panda got into the fight too. Shifu used his tiny hands to block even the hardest of punches from his foes. Shifu would then use their own strength as their weakness; the harder they tried, the more pain Shifu's special Kung Fu holds caused them.

Shifu jumped up and grabbed a baboon by his collar, swung him around and tossed him against a teammate.

Dodging a full-body tackle, Shifu spun around in a circle, stepping backwards then jumped backwards with a backflip. Just before he landed, he managed to hit a baboon in the head with his tiny elbow.

Ai Long jumped forwards, hitting a baboon in the head with an impressive jump-kick. As two baboons approached on each side of her, she gracefully used her hands to grab ahold of the one to the right. She then swung him against the other baboon, knocking them both to the ground.

Being surrounded, Ai Long jumped into the air, doing a split on the way up, hitting two baboons in the head in the process. Once she landed, she sprung up again, doing a spin kick, hitting several baboons.

Lumang used his trunk to grab ahold of a baboon, then throw him against his comrades. The elephant then charged towards an attacking baboon and smashed his fist against his face, knocking him out.

When a baboon suddenly grabbed ahold of Lumang from behind, trying to keep the elephant in place, Lumang used his powerful trunk to grab ahold of him and throw him into the air. Before he came back down, Lumang proceeded with fighting off his teammates. Then when he did come back down, Lumang hit him in the chest with a powerful punch, sending him flying into his teammates.

Yun jumped into the air and hit a baboon in the chest with a kick – mainly because he couldn't jump any higher. Being unable to really fly, Yun had to hover from baboon to baboon as he delivered kicks – all while making loud, obnoxious Kung Fu noises… But that was just his way of fighting – with audio and everything!

Once the rooster landed again, he had to dodge the baboons that were superior in size. Jumping aside, he dodged a baboon that tried to tackle him. Yun then jumped into the air and kicked him in the back and knocked him onto the ground with a short "Yah!"

Fenghuang gracefully used her long and powerful wings to block incoming punches and kicks. Blocking incoming punches from each side with each wing, Fenghuang then let go and rapidly spun around, sweeping the feet of the baboons away.

Graceful like the wind, Fenghuang took off, spinning around her own axis as she hit various baboons in the head with her wings. As she kept spinning, she suddenly felt an immense energy run through her body – one she had never experienced before. It was almost overwhelming and suddenly she found herself gasping for air. Before she knew it, she fell to her knees, still gasping for air.

"What the-…? Whatever?" one of the baboons growled and was about to kick Fenghuang. But he was suddenly stopped and suddenly he found himself on the ground.

Shifu tossed him into the air, then jumped up and kicked, so that he flew against some of his teammates.

"What are you doing?" Shifu asked Fenghuang, somewhat annoyed as he kept fighting off the baboons. "Get up!"

"… I… Sorry, I don't know what happened," Fenghuang said and got to her knees, still gasping for air, but eventually her breathing returned to normal. Fenghuang got to her feet, then took off and kicked away a baboon, which Shifu was about to fight off.

"Fenghuang, are you okay?" Ai Long asked, hitting a baboon right next to Shifu with a jump-kick.

"Yes, I'm fine," Fenghuang replied, still a little shaken from the experience.

"But what happened?" Yun asked as he and Lumang also joined the others.

"I don't know!" Fenghuang cried, almost sounding like she could cry.

"Alright, sorry!" Yun said. The baboons around them closed in, and Yun decided that, "Maybe we should save the talking for later."

"Agreed," Lumang said and smashed his fist against an approaching baboon, then grabbed him by his leg with his trunk and hurled him against a few others, managing to knock out quite a few.

Suddenly something unexpected happened; some of the baboons fled. Shifu was taken by surprise. But eventually he continued to fight off the baboons, noticing that more and more of them started fleeing.

"Cowards! Don't you dare run!" the baboon leader growled. "Baoda orders you to stay and fight!..."

"Seemingly you should try giving them a raise," Yun joked once the majority of Baoda's minions were gone; only a handful was left. "Maybe then they won't run away after ten minutes of fighting!"

"Watch your mouth, chicken!" Baoda growled.

"The politically correct thing to say would be rooster…"

"Yun, I hardly think he cares," Lumang said in an annoyed tone. "Let's just kick him back where he came from."

"Who do you even think you are?" Baoda asked again angrily this time. "How dare you defy me?!"

Shifu thought for a moment. What was it that Master Oogway had dubbed them? Something… Five…

"We are the…" Shifu stopped, then turned to Ai Long. "What was it that Master Oogway had called us?"

"The Furious Five," the leopardess replied in a half-whisper, trying to make it look less lame than it did.

"Right… We are the Furious Five!" Shifu then told the baboon leader. He then took one step towards the baboon and pointed at him with his right index finger. "Remember that!"

"You haven't seen the last of me!" Baoda shouted, fleeing himself, much to the Five's surprise. "Or my minions for that matter!"

Shifu and the others simply watched as the baboon ran off into the distance, much to Lumang's annoyance.

"What are we waiting for?" Lumang asked annoyed and clenched his fists.

"Nothing," Shifu said calmly. "They're gone and they left the stolen items behind – that's what's important."

"Agreed," Ai Long said with a smile. "I guess this concludes it!"

"Well done, students." The newly united Furious Five turned around and were greeted by Master Oogway and several of the villagers, who had seemingly watched the fights from a distance.

"From this day on, a new era dawns," Master Oogway told the villagers who were gathering at the wrecked marketplace. The Five had already heard Oogway say this before, so they knew what to expect. "The era of the Furious Five – protectors of the Valley of Peace."

The villagers whom had gathered started cheering and Shifu smiled, then turned towards his new teammates. "Well?"

"I kind of like it," Ai Long said with a smile.

"You really think you can live with a bunch of newbies around?" Yun joked, patting Shifu's back.

Shifu smiled at the rooster. "Maybe – it seems quite possible."

* * *

**A/N:** And there you go! Now, now, let's see where this takes us. ;) The team is really united now - Shifu learned to accept the fact that he will have to train with less experienced students. :D I hope you liked this, please leave a review if you did! :D  
Note that this will be like the show on Nickeloden; no actual enemy or plotline, but several of these. :)


	3. A Long-Lasting Problem

**A/N:** Alright, now to the character focus-chapters, episodes, whatever you like. ;) We will start off in a random order, but I did intend on starting with this very character that I've chosen. I don't know, she just seemed like a logical choice to me. Anyways, I hope you enjoy; now it is time to assemble the Furious Five for real - one by one! :3

* * *

Ai Long clenched her fists, then took on a battle stance, preparing herself.

"Ready…" Master Oogway said slowly. Ai Long and Yun took on battle stances on top of the Jade Tortoise of Wisdom. "Set…"

The old Master stopped, the students' bodies all tense and ready to fight. But Master Oogway said no 'go' and the students all waited for something to happen. Eventually Lumang's impatience took over.

"Aren't you ever going to say 'go' or something?" Lumang asked annoyed.

"… begin," master Oogway said right after Lumang's comment. Ai Long took on a different battle stance and Yun jumped off the tortoise for a short moment, doing two kicks while spinning around in a circle midair, adding "Hi! Ya!" as the rooster would usually do when fighting.

Ai Long blocked both kicks and as Yun landed back on the edge of the tortoise, she attacked with a few punches.

"Woo-ha!" Yun said as he blocked with his wings. "Hi-ya!"

As Yue tried with another kick towards her torso, Ai Long put her arms in an X-formation, ultimately blocking. Ai Long then used this formation to push forwards, pushing Yun away.

The two then jumped into the air at the same time. As the two crossed each other, they attacked each other with a few punches before eventually landing on the opposite sides of the tortoise.

As Yun tried with another jump-kick, Ai Long blocked with her left hand and eventually managed to hit the rooster with her right fist. When this happened, Yun fell a little backwards, then landed inside the bowl-like tortoise, rolling around for a moment as Oogway called off the match.

"Are you okay?" Ai Long asked Yun as she helped him up from the tortoise's hollow body.

"Yeah, I'm fine," he replied. "I'll just have to walk it off."

"Very good," Master Oogway said as the two joined the rest of the group. "However, Ai Long, you will need to work more on your offensive skills; Yun you will have to work on your defense as well."

"Yes, Master," the two said and bowed, almost completely in sync.

"Now, we will take a short break for those who need it," Master Oogway offered, but all five students turned this down. It was their second day at the Jade Palace, but the four new students had adjusted rather quickly.

"No thanks, Master," Shifu said. "I think we will keep going today"

"That way we will also be able to go over some more stuff," Fenghuang added with a little smile.

"Is that so…" Master Oogway said, somewhat surprised, yet a little proud too. "Do you all agree with this?"

"Sure," Lumang said.

"Yeah," Yun said with a nod.

Ai Long had to quickly think about it. She wasn't quite the one of the team in the best shape and she knew that it was limited how long she could train and fight for… But Oogway had said that she needed to work on her offense… Was there really any other choice? "Yes, of course."

Master Oogway stopped for a moment and looked at the leopardess for a few seconds, examining her facial expressions. Eventually he told the students to take on the training mechanisms of the hall.

Ai Long chose to take on the Gauntlet of Wooden Warriors, the spinning mechanics that spun around in time with every hit you applied to them. Shifu had briefly given her and the others a crash curse of how the mechanics worked, but that had been it.

But Ai Long was starting to get it; she was already learning how they worked and the as she began, she quickly got into a rhythm. First punch one on the top, block one in the middle, then kick one in the bottom, block one in the bottom and so on.

"You know, Master Oogway?" Lumang asked as he jumped around on the Field of Fiery Death. Given his size, it was only logical that Lumang trained his agility and speed. "I wanted to ask you something."

"And what is that?" Master Oogway asked calmly, watching the elephant dodge the geysers of fire that came out of the pipes of the field.

"Are… we going to get any… weapons for training?" Lumang asked in between dodges. Master Oogway was satisfied with the elephant's result; despite his size, he did very well; he hadn't been hit by the flames once.

"Only time will know," Master Oogway said. "You will never know what will be – all you will know is what already is."

"Eh… thanks for your nonsense of wisdom, Master," Lumang said, bowing. He hadn't quite understood the answer, and suddenly he was nearly hit in the face by a flame; what kind of fool would also bow, standing in that field, Shifu thought, who had watched it all.

Ai Long kept training with the single Gauntlet. Suddenly Master Oogway called her over and obediently she stopped her sparring with the dummy and went over to her Master.

"Yes, Master?" she asked, putting her arms behind her back.

"I see you have learned to Master the Gauntlets of Wooden Warriors," Master Oogway said calmly. "Now, I was thinking, have you tried training with more than one at once?"

"Well, not," Ai Long said. "I wouldn't say that I've mastered these… I just… I just so happen to have figured this one out."

"Then why do you not proceed to fighting against two?" Master Oogway asked. "You can view your training as if it were the sun; it starts at dawn and as the day goes on, it moves."

"I… I think I understand," Ai Long said. "You're telling me that I should move on to the next level, right?"

Master Oogway simply nodded and Ai Long turned towards the Gauntlets again. She guessed that the only way of knowing if she was ready, would be to try and see how it'd go.

Getting in front of two of the Gauntlets, Ai Long prepared herself. She started with the one on the left, quickly falling back into the pattern. After a few seconds, she eventually began with the second one as well.

It did go pretty well and Ai Long eventually got to do the punching and kicking pretty fast. Master Oogway simply watched in silence, satisfied with the result of Ai Long's training. She and the others had had a very short time getting used to the training at Jade Palace, but they had all adjusted relatively fast, which had been quite an interesting process to watch.

Suddenly Ai Long noticed how Oogway watched her; it wasn't like she was used to people watching her intensively when training and suddenly she missed one of the Gauntlet's wooden arms. Suddenly Ai Long's cheek was hit by another arm and she fell onto the Training Hall's floor.

Ai Long quickly got to her feet again, trying to ignore what had just happened. She was just about to continue again, but Oogway told her to wait.

"Ai Long you cannot just proceed as if nothing happened," Master Oogway spoke. He stopped for a moment. "You need to learn from your mistakes. Now, can you tell me what went wrong? Any ideas?"

Ai Long blushed from embarrassment. Oh, how she hated these kinds of things. She knew it was for her own good, but it was still embarrassing to be faced with her own mistakes. But eventually she said, "I was too slow, perhaps?"

Master Oogway slowly shook his head. "Not quite – your speed and timing was perfect – until I looked closer at you."

"Alright, I just mess up sometimes when people look at me," Ai Long admitted. It seemed like this was a hard thing for her to admit. But she continued. "I just get nervous and I feel pressured! It's always been like that! But I don't know why, and-…!"  
"It is alright to become nervous, Ai Long," Oogway told the leopardess. "But if we don't start working on getting rid of it, we will get nowhere."

"How?" Ai Long asked.

"Now, there is no reason to rush through it," Oogway said calmly. "We will work our way through it step by step."

* * *

"What was it that Oogway wanted to talk to you about?" Fenghuang asked Ai Long. The two were in the barracks – in Ai Long's room to be more exact. The five students did not have very many belongings with them, but each of them still had unique rooms.

The way that Ai Long's room differed from the others was by having a blue and purple blanket on the floor with golden phoenix patterns. She also had a single wall scroll with motifs that resembled the village she came from; it was neatly decorated with golden bamboo and mountain motifs.

Other than that, there wasn't anything spectacular about Ai Long's room. Ai Long sat on the blanket and Fenghuang had been offered to sit on Ai Long's bed.

"Well, I just messed up earlier today," Ai Long sighed. She then slapped her forehead with both hands and covered her face for a moment. "I feel so stupid!"

"Aww," Fenghuang said. She then got off of Ai Long's bed and walked towards the feline, sitting on the floor. Fenghuang eventually sat down, patting her friend on the back. "You're too self-criticizing – you cannot expect yourself to be perfect."

"But… Look at Shifu; he's the perfect student," Ai Long sighed. "I have never seen him mess up or even lose a sparring match."

"Shifu is…" Fenghuang stopped. "Different."

Ai Long looked up and sent Fenghuang a confused look – with raised eyebrow and a suggestive face on. "Different, huh?"

"Yeah… Wait, what are you hinting at?" Fenghuang asked, raising an eyebrow. "I thought we were talking about you."

"Sure…" Ai long, said, getting somewhat depressed again. "I just feel so stupid."

"It's okay – we all make mistakes," Fenghuang said. "I mean, look at Lumang, Yun, Shifu, me, all of us."

"I guess you're right," Ai Long said with a shrug.

"I know I'm right," Fenghuang said, smiling at her friend. "So what did Oogway say would help?"

"More training…"

"Why am I not surprised?" Fenghuang chuckled. Ai Long then hugged Fenghuang when the two got to their feet.

"Thanks, Fenghy," Ai Long said.

"It's nothing," Fenghuang said. "But can you do something in return?"

"What?" Ai Long said, breaking free from the hug.

"Don't _ever_ call me that again." Ai Long saw that Fenghuang smiled while saying this, so Ai long decided that it would still be something that she would occasionally call Fenghuang.

* * *

"Can you please describe how you feel when you're closely observed?" Master Oogway asked Ai Long. The two were in the training hall alone; the group had just eaten dinner and the rest were now… Master Oogway wasn't actually quite sure what they were doing.

"I feel… stressed… somewhat pressured too," Ai Long replied, looking down.

Master Oogway thought for a while. Soon he came up with an idea. He found a black piece of fabric – a blindfold. "I believe that all we can really do for now is train a little more. But I would like you to wear this meanwhile."

"With a blindfold?" Ai Long asked. "Won't that be a little too challenging? I mean, I just learned to use these things properly today."

"I believe in you – I know you can do it," Master Oogway said calmly. "Besides, if we never try, we will never find out."

Ai Long sighed in defeat and Oogway helped her bind the blindfold around her head, completely covering her eyes. Now she couldn't see anything at all, so at that point Oogway's idea had worked completely.

"Now what do I do?" Ai Long asked holding out her arms, trying to figure out where she was. "I can't find the Gauntlets."

"You just need to sense your surroundings," Master Oogway said. "That is one of the keys to victory; if you know where you are, you will never get lost."

"I guess that makes sense," Ai Long agreed, starting to walk forwards. Carefully she walked forwards, trying to sense her way around. Eventually she finally managed to find the Gauntlets; she felt her one hand hit something, which suddenly swung away and right then she knew that she had found what she looked for.

"You may begin," Oogway said. "I know how you feel when being watched, so I will leave you alone – good luck."

Once she heard that Oogway had left, Ai Long started punching and kicking the arms of the Gauntlet. She once again got into the rhythm relatively quick. Soon Ai long was punching and kicking the Gauntlet rather fast.

She suddenly remembered what Master Oogway had asked her earlier: "Why do you not proceed to fighting against two? You can view your training as if it were the sun; it starts at dawn and as the day goes on, it moves."

Gathering up the courage to do it, Ai Long finally moved a little to the side and started punching the next one. As the arms of the second Gauntlet started rotating, Ai Long quickly got into a rhythm and was soon punching away at high speed.

She was amazed at how well she did this – it was as if she had trained with these for years! Suddenly Ai Long felt a rush of confidence run through her. She quickly slipped through the arms of the Gauntlets and managed to get in between the entire collection of Gauntlets of Wooden Warriors.

Soon the young leopardess was attacking three at the same time, then four and soon she was also able to walk through the rows of Gauntlets, while defending herself almost perfectly.

Suddenly Ai Long ran out of Gauntlets as she kept walking. She eventually removed the blindfold and almost jumped out of her fur when she saw Master Oogway stand before her. How long had he been watching?!

"Ma-Master!" she said surprised.

"Well done, Ai Long," Master Oogway said. "It seems that you have truly mastered the Gauntlets of Wooden Warriors."

As she realized this, Ai Long was shocked at first. But suddenly she realized just how great she had done. She felt… relieved! And the fact that Oogway had watched her didn't bother her at all!

"I… I guess I did," she said, still surprised.

"I knew you could do it," Oogway said. "Just as well as a ship can sail and a tree carry leaves in the summer."


	4. Shifu's Flute

**A/N:** And landing as number two out of the character focus chapters, we have Lumang! As you've probably figured, he isn't quite Shifu's... cup of tea, so to speak. So, yeah, I think it'll be fun to see. Anyways, enjoy :)

* * *

It had only been one day, but Shifu was certain; Lumang was not his type. The elephant hardly did anything but complain. This wasn't good enough; that was done wrong… It was soon becoming too much for Shifu. After all, he had told himself that he would accept these newcomers as they were, but Lumang was proving to be a bit harder to accept.

That being said, Shifu hadn't had any real problems with the others; Ai Long seemed very nice, Yun was quite talkative and Fenghuang was also very nice to talk to – very interested in Kung Fu history as well.

But Lumang still concerned Shifu. Earlier that day, Lumang had somehow managed to destroy Shifu's flute by accident. Lumang had stepped on it. It had been standing against a wall in the kitchen, but it had been turned over somehow.

Eventually Lumang had stepped on it and even refused to apologize afterwards! To Shifu, this display of disrespect was a sign of parental mistakes.

But then again, Shifu hadn't grown up with his parents. Shifu still hadn't quite forgiven Lumang for it, but Shifu didn't expect him to change. Typical. Once the red panda had accepted all of them, one of them just had to be the way that Lumang was… Of course.

Shifu truly hated to judge people so quickly, but he knew that there wasn't much wrong with his judgment of Lumang's personality – arrogant and annoying.

"What is your problem?" Shifu growled at Lumang, holding the remains of his flute in his hands.

"Nothing, you're the one with a problem," Lumang said back, sitting down by the kitchen table. "Whining over an item – and even a flute of all things."

"Hey, don't speak to me like that," Shifu said, feeling a rage build up. "I came here before you, so what about you show some more respect? Not just to me, but the rest of the world!"

There was a moment of silence in the kitchen. Eventually Lumang got up as well, looked at Shifu with cold eyes. Then eventually left, muttering, "At least I don't cry over an item."

"At least I can see where I walk!" Shifu called after Lumang, having heard him clearly due to his keen hearing.

"Shifu, Shifu, calm down," Ai Long said, walking over to Shifu. She put a hand on Shifu's shoulder and led him over to the kitchen table, seating him between her and Fenghuang.

* * *

Lumang sighed to himself as he walked towards the kitchen with the others. It was time for breakfast, early in the morning, but the elephant almost couldn't care less.

They had already been there for two days – two whole days… and everything was the same! Same routine all day, every day!

Lumang already found himself growing sick of it; he needed varied content in his life! Sure, the others didn't seem to complain, but Lumang knew for a fact that he needed to be doing something besides training.

"Master Oogway?" he asked once breakfast was over with.

"Yes, Lumang?" Master Oogway asked with a smile.

"Well… I was just, you know… thinking…"

"Thinking? Thinking is a good thing," Master Oogway said with a nod, somewhat surprising Lumang with his strange response. "Perhaps I know just what you are thinking."

"You do?" Lumang asked surprised.

"Quite frankly, I do," Oogway replied.

"How?"

"When the wind starts blowing differently, one can tell when a storm is coming," Oogway said, somewhat mysteriously.

Lumang was truly surprised. Had it been that obvious all along? None of the others had noticed, but Master Oogway had? Maybe there was far more to the old Master than Lumang had thought the first time he heard of him.

"So, I decided to let you have a different sort of training for today," Master Oogway said, much to Lumang's relief. The elephant sighed with relief, happy to hear this.

"I will need you to bring something to the Artisan Village." As Oogway led Lumang over to the Sacred Hall of Warriors, the two came upon a black shoulder bag. Oogway signaled for Lumang to pick it up, which the elephant obediently did.

Much to Lumang's surprise, it was seemingly empty, at least from the feel of it. "So you're going to have me play delivery boy?"

Master Oogway chuckled a little to himself. "I suppose you could call it that."

"Whatever," Lumang muttered as he and Oogway entered the hall. "What do you want me to bring out anyway?"

"Patience," Master Oogway said wisely.

"You want me to bring out patience?" Lumang asked confused, not getting it.

"No, patience is what you must have," Master Oogway said as the two walked through the Hall of Warriors. "It is something that we all need."

"Of course, of course," Lumang said, trying not to sound like he didn't care – which he didn't.

"Lumang, I am simply trying to save you before it is too late," Oogway said, somewhat startling the elephant.

"What?!" he asked. "Save me from what?"

"You will understand some day." As Oogway and Lumang came to the Moon Pool, the two found a little, wooden box of some sort. Oogway carefully picked it up and handed it to Lumang. "Watch over it with your life."

"Don't worry, Master," Lumang said and quickly bowed. "I will."

As Oogway carefully handed the box to Lumang, he, however, wasn't nearly as careful; he clumsily stuffed it into his new bag. This was somewhat nerving to Oogway, who tried to stay calm, but he did briefly tap his fingers on his long wooden staff.

"I should probably get going," Lumang said. "I'll be back soon."

"May your mission go well," Master Oogway said with a smile. "But beware of… bandits."

Just then, Lumang had already left and hadn't even heard Master Oogway's warning.

* * *

"Hey, Lumang," Ai Long said, once she saw her comrade make his way across the palace's courtyard. "Where are you going?"

The others were outside training. They were practicing some moves that Shifu showed them how to do. The red panda had gotten used to them and didn't mind the fact that they weren't as good as him anymore.

"I'm going to Artisan Village," Lumang said, a little proud.

"And what will you be doing there of all places?" Shifu asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Master Oogway gave me this." Lumang patted the black shoulder bag. "He asked me to deliver it."

"Alright," Shifu said. "Good luck then. Oh and if it isn't 'too much trouble', maybe you could make an order for me?"

"An order?"

"Yes, I really need a new flute – my old one's… broken," Shifu said, trying not to sound blaming. "I will make sure to pay myself."

"Alright, I will," Lumang said rather carelessly.

"Thanks, Lumang." Shifu didn't quite believe that he would actually do it.

"Sure, whatever," Lumang said and walked towards the Jade Palace's gate.

"I wonder what he has to deliver," Ai Long said as soon as the elephant was gone.

"Whatever it is, ten dumplings say, he'll break it before he gets there," Yun said.

"You know, Yun," Fenghuang started. "I heard that twenty said, he'll get lost on the way."

"Guys!" Ai Long said, causing the two birds to chuckle a little at their bets. "Don't say stuff like that!"

"What?" Yun and Fenghuang asked in unison in a rather teasing way.

"We weren't mean," Yun said. "We were just…"

"Guys, let's get back to training," Shifu said, somewhat annoyed. "We don't have time for games right now."

Meanwhile Lumang had gotten halfway down the staircase that led to the village. Lumang was happy because he was finally doing something besides training – he had a mission!

As he walked, Lumang had noticed a weird, metallic rustling noise. It was coming from the bag he carried, but Lumang just figured that it came from the box he had with him. Soon the satisfied elephant finally reached the end of the stairs, he heard a another, more familiar sound – the sound of his stomach growling. Hmm… Yeah, it was definitely best to not fulfill a mission on an empty stomach.

Lumang headed for Mr. Ping's noodle shop. He hadn't visited it before, but he had heard Shifu talk about it every now and then.

Lumang remembered the strange rustling noise from before… Could it be…?

Checking the bag, Lumang found some money in it, much to his surprise. How convenient… Had Master Oogway known that Lumang would get go for something to eat? Or was it meant for something else?

Either way, Lumang's intuition told him that he could spend the money on some food. Entering the restaurant, Lumang just barely managed to get through the door due to his height.

Lumang found it kind of awkward that everything in the restaurant seemed so small compared to him. He eventually had to sit on the ground by one of the tables, since he was afraid that he might break a chair if he tried to sit in it.

"Hello there, Lumang, what would you like?" Wu asked the elephant.

"How do you know my name?" Lumang asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Well, the others have mentioned you."

"Oh… alright," Lumang said. "Anyways, I'd like some dumplings."

As Wu left to get it, Lumang took a closer look around the restaurant. There were plenty of guests and it looked pretty nice. In fact, it looked very nice.

Almost instantly, Wu appeared with Lumang dumplings, which Lumang paid for with the money he had found in the bag. Lumang then crossed his arms and leaned back against the wall behind him, using his trunk to, impressively, pick up the chopsticks.

Wu watched for a moment from a distance as the elephant started eating, a somewhat interesting process, since he used his trunk to wield the chopsticks. Eventually the young goose went to service the other customers and eventually Lumang finished eating.

Lumang walked through the village and came to the outskirts of it, though he still didn't quite know where to go. He eventually asked a bypassing villager, who then gave him directions.

After thanking the villager, Lumang embarked on his new mission. How difficult could it be? He just had to deliver the box and that would be it!

As he started out, Lumang followed a trail with various hills surrounding it. Following the river that also ran through the village in a complex canal system, Lumang soon came to an area with more woods – a little grove, it seemed.

Soon this little grove would turn into a forest as the elephant continued. After a while, Lumang finally came to a place where the trail split in two. There was the first sign of civilization though – a sign reading "Artisan Village this way."

"Perfect," Lumang said happily. He then started down the trail on the left. Everything seemed so perfect! He would be done in no time and then he would be heading home again!

* * *

When he finally arrived in Artisan Village, he was met with music and joyous mood. It was as if his appearance was some sort of special event.

"Finally, the day has come!" a pig said joyfully and held up the wooden box that Oogway had given him. "The Crescent Pendant has been brought to us!"

At this, the entire village started cheering and confetti started raining as well.

Crescent Pendant? Lumang didn't even know what it was, but it sounded important. The pig finally started opening the box, carefully with shaking hands. At that moment it was as if the entire village held its breath.

But suddenly something fast dashed by and before anyone knew it, the box was gone. Everyone gasped and Lumang quickly looked around, and suddenly he saw a baboon standing by a large bell.

Lumang immediately went to grab the box, but suddenly the baboon threw it across the village at an amazing height. All the villagers gasped and Lumang could do nothing but watch.

But even while the box was still midair, suddenly another baboon came, jumping off of the roof of one of the houses. He managed to catch it in his hand and land on his feet and after that, he started running.

Lumang immediately followed, making his way past the villagers. And then the chase began.

Through the village and out of it and into the forest, Lumang kept following the baboons with no stop. Suddenly he came to a clearing. There, Lumang found that he was in fact surrounded by baboons.

"Well, well, well," a familiar voice said. Lumang turned around and saw Baoda, the baboon leader step towards him. "If it isn't one of the five."

"Oh… it's just you," Lumang said, not utterly impressed.

"What do you mean with that?" Baoda growled. "I'm Baoda – the greatest bandit leader in the Valley of Peace."

"As far as I know you're the only one," Lumang said sassily.

"Yes and that automatically makes me number one," Baoda pointed out. "Now, time for my revenge!"

"Wait, you want revenge against all of us right?" Lumang asked as the many baboons all took a step towards him.

"Yes…?" Baoda said a little hesitant.

"Then it's weak to only go after one at a time, loser," Lumang said sassily and crossed his arms with a grin on his face.

Soon Baoda had ordered his baboons to attack Lumang. Lumang responded to this by getting into a battle stance. Just then, baboons charged from every side, forming a circle around Lumang, which got smaller and smaller by the second.

Finally, Lumang took a step forwards towards the nearest baboon. Lumang grabbed him by his leg with his trunk and then threw him against some of his teammates. Right after that, Lumang blocked the first attack from another baboon with his hands.

Lumang jumped into the air and kicked another baboon, then charged against one that charged him, grabbing him by his leg with his trunk. Flipping him into the air, Lumang jumped towards him, kicking him against some of his other teammates.

Attacking more baboons with fists and feet, Lumang quickly managed to defeat quite a few. Once a majority of the baboon minions were down, Lumang walked towards Baoda. "Just give me the box already."

"You're going to have to fight me first!" Baoda growled and jumped towards Lumang. Lumang took a half step backwards, then smashed his fist towards Baoda. Somehow the baboon managed to dodge by doing a midair spin.

Before Lumang knew it, he was hit by a foot in the face. Lumang stumbled backwards, almost falling, but soon Baoda was at it again.

Lumang spun around in a circle and his trunk slapped against Baoda's face, knocking him aside. As Lumang faced Baoda again, he took on a battle stance. But quickly Lumang noticed that the box that he was after had fallen out of Baoda's hand and was lying on the ground in between the two.

Instantly, the two both hurried towards it, trying to get a hold of it. But due to his trunk, Lumang got it first.

But as Baoda continued, Lumang just extended his fist and the baboon leader ran headfirst into it. Baoda collapsed onto the ground and Lumang shook his hand, a little numb from the impact.

But nonetheless he had managed to knock out the baboon leader. Lumang looked up to see the remaining baboons make a run for it, being just as cowardly as Lumang remembered. He looked down at Baoda. It would only be fair to send him to prison… Nah, that could wait – it wasn't like he was going anywhere, right?

* * *

"Finally the day has come!" the same pig said just as excitedly. Lumang just raised an eyebrow, somewhat confused. The rest of the villagers cheered just as loudly as before, and Lumang started wondering if these guys were happy or just plain stupid.

As the pig opened the box, he finally revealed a tiny, tiny medallion of some sort. It was black and circular and had a crescent moon on it, which seemed to be made of silver.

Whatever made it so special, Lumang didn't know, but either way, he had gotten the job done.

"How can we ever thank you?" the pig asked Lumang. "There must be a way that we can repay you."

"Well… I can't really think of anything," Lumang said, shrugging. "I don't really need anything."

"Oh, but at least take this," one of the other villagers, a rabbit said. He hurried over to Lumang and handed him a long wooden box. Lumang opened it and revealed a beautifully made bamboo flute.

"Oh, I'm sorry, but I don't really play the flute," Lumang said, about to turn it down, but suddenly another thought crossed his mind. "Oh, never mind – I can give it to one of the others!"

"Oh, how kind of you!" the rabbit said happily.

"Hehe, I guess," Lumang said with a smile. Suddenly he realized that he had forgotten about Baoda. "Eh… it's not to be rude, but I have to go now…"

"Don't think about it," a voice from behind Lumang said. Lumang turned around and saw Shifu, Ai Long, Yun and Fenghuang.

"We have already gotten those bandits tied up and sent to prison," Shifu continued.

"You have?" Lumang asked surprised. "What are you guys even doing here?"

"Well, Master Oogway thought you might need some help," Fenghuang said. "And obviously you forgot to get rid of your trash."

"Thanks, guys," Lumang said, crossing his arms, though letting a faint smile cross his lips. Suddenly he remembered the gift that he was given. "Shifu?"

"Yes?" Shifu asked.

"The villagers gave me this in return," Lumang said, presenting the wooden box to Shifu. Lumang then opened it. "I have no idea about how to use this… I thought you might."

"… Thanks," Shifu said, somewhat surprised by Lumang's sudden present. Shifu carefully opened it and was surprised by the mere beauty of revealed the bamboo flute.

Shifu brought it up to his mouth a played a short tune. He then looked at it again. "I like it… thanks!"

"You're welcome," Lumang said.

"Wait, Oogway gave you the Crescent Pendant?!" Ai Long asked, almost shouted once she noticed the small object.

"Uh… yeah, but what makes it so special?" Lumang asked.

"What makes it special?! Ai Long repeated.

"Yes, are you deaf or what, woman?" Lumang asked, somewhat annoyed.

"It was made in the last dynasty," Ai Long explained. "The man who forged it gave it to the head of Artisan Village during that time… But when he died, he handed it to his first born – his daughter. She was then married away to a man in another village."

"Since then, the two villages have been in a quarrel about which one it truly belonged to," Ai Long continued after a short pause. "And now Master Oogway finally managed to get it back to its rightful owners with his influences."

"So that's how it is," Lumang said, not sounding utterly impressed by the story. "Either way, I did it!"

* * *

"Master, I am back," Lumang said. He was by the Moon Pool, balancing on top of his staff, meditating. Suddenly Lumang realized that the tortoise master was balancing on top of his head.

This display of balance greatly surprised Lumang, but eventually Oogway got to the ground again, walking towards Lumang. "And how did it go?"

"Pretty good," Lumang said. "I got the Pendant delivered and all… But why did you send the others too?"

"I was simply afraid that you might end in trouble," Master Oogway said calmly.

"Why?"

"It is simple – we all have our flaws. If you would look at these tiles on which we stand; they are all carved the same way, but none of them look exactly the same."

"Your point is?"

"My point is that your flaws could easily become fatal," Master Oogway said. "You're impatient – even more so than Shifu."

"Is Shifu impatient?" Lumang asked surprised – he had never noticed before.

Master Oogway nodded.

"But what do I do with my 'flaws' then?" Lumang asked.

"Not a thing," Master Oogway replied, surprising the elephant greatly.

"What, why?"

"No matter how hard you try, you can never truly change yourself," Master Oogway said wisely. "You might have wished that you were Shifu or Yun, but you will always be Lumang. And the only thing you can ever do about that is to learn from yesterday, hope for tomorrow and live for today."

Lumang waited for a few seconds as he let it all sink in. Wasn't a teacher supposed to help getting rid of such flaws? It all appeared somewhat illogical to Lumang, but eventually he just bowed to his Master and said, "Very well, Master."

"Now, the others are waiting for you," Master Oogway said.

"Waiting?" Lumang asked confused.

"Yes, it is your turn to cook dinner tonight," Master Oogway said with a chuckle, getting a groan out of Lumang.


	5. Dreams of Hope

**A/N:** And another late-night update (For me, anyways). The second last of the character chapters, next up is the grand one (If you ask me ;) ). I hope you will like this one with Yun though. :)

* * *

It was a somewhat cloudy day as Yun made his way to the village by gliding down from the palace. He was only able to glide, since his wings weren't capable of carrying him, unlike Fenghuang's.

Yun was still relatively young; therefore his wings weren't strong enough to carry him very far yet. But his grandfather had told him that if he trained, he would be able to fly just like the great Master Eagle.

Finally landing in front of the staircase, Yun made his way towards the marketplace, since it was his turn to go shopping. He had been handed a bag by Master Oogway, the very same that Lumang had used to carry the Crescent Pendant to Artisan Village.

"Okay, rice, noodles, vegetables and fruit," Yun muttered to himself as he looked at the list that Shifu had given him. It looked pretty old, so Yun figured that it was one that Shifu had always used.

Yun just smiled to himself and continued towards the marketplace. Eventually getting there, Yun looked at his list again. Just how was he ever going to be able to carry all of this stuff back?!

"Excuse me, can I help you?" one of the sellers at the marketplace asked.

"Well… I'm from the Jade Palace…" Yun started.

"Yup, I saw you and your friends take care of those bandits the other day," the pig said. "Again, thanks for doing so!"

"You're welcome," Yun said with a smile. "So anyways, they sent me to go shopping… I have a list and…"

"Oh, you're mistaken," the pig chuckled. "You have to go see Mr. Shan for this."

"… oh, alright, thanks," Yun replied. On the inside however, he sighed to himself. He had completely misunderstood the entire point of the job he had gotten. Oh well, it wasn't worse than it was, was it?

The pig then explained where Yun could find Mr. Shan. And that so happened to be in the opposite end of the village.

Sighing to himself, the rooster made his way towards Mr. Shan's place. It turned out to be some kind of office with lots of wagons holding outside it.

The store was located right next to one of the big canals that ran through the valley and there was a sign above the door, reading "Mr. Shan's Mailing Service."

"Hello?" Yun asked and walked into the store. It seemed empty, but suddenly a door opened and a rabbit came into the store.

"Yes, welcome to Mr. Shan's Mailing Service," the old rabbit said. "How can I help you, young man?"

"Well… I'm from Jade Palace and… well, they gave me this list." Yun was still confused as to what exactly he was supposed to do.

"Oh, so you're here with the list," Mr. Shan said.

"The list? Oh, that list!" Yun said, happy to finally have figured it out. He quickly handed Mr. Shan the scroll he had had with him.

"Alright, just the usual," Mr. Shan muttered, reading from the scroll. "I will make sure it'll arrive before afternoon."

"Wha-… So that's just it?" Yun asked confused. "I just give you the list and that's it?"

Mr. Shan nodded.

"Then why couldn't the palace messenger do it?" Yun asked.

Mr. Shan chuckled as if it was obvious. "You see, back when it was only Shifu, Master Oogway gave him a lot of duties."

"Why?"

"Because even though you live at the Jade Palace, which is a very prestigious thing to do," Mr. Shan started explaining. "Master Oogway wanted you all to have certain duties to fulfill, so that you wouldn't forget that you're not perfect for this reason."

"… Eh… okay, I guess that makes sense," Yun said after thinking it through a couple of times. Actually it did; if they had no duties besides training what so ever, they probably grow lazy – in a sense.

"Alright, thanks for that," Yun said, about to leave.

"You're welcome," Mr. Shan said with a smile. Suddenly a female rabbit entered from the door behind the counter. As soon as she saw Yun, a surprised expression came across her face.

"Hello," Yun said with a smile.

"You're one of the Five!" the female rabbit said.

"Eh… yeah, I guess," Yun said, somewhat surprised.

"We watched you when you fought against those bandits," assumingly Mrs. Shan said. She then chuckled to herself. "Our son loves you and your friends. He has even said that he wants to start doing Kung Fu himself."

"Really?" Yun asked, both surprised and flattered. "Well, that's great!"

"He even asked us if he could come to the Jade Palace someday," Mr. Shan chuckled.

"Well, is he home? He could come with me, then I could show him around," Yun said. The Shans eyes lit up with joy as they heard this and eventually Mrs. Shan called for their son.

Soon the son entered the shop and gasped when he saw Yun. "Master Yun!"

"Oh, I don't know if you can call me Master," Yun chuckled. "Just call me Yun. Nice to meet you…"

"Xiao," the young rabbit introduced himself.

"So, would you like to come see Jade Palace?" Yun asked. He had barely had to ask as this caused the rabbit to happily squeal and reply yes several times.

"Just a second," Xiao said happily; I have to go somewhere really quick. The happy rabbit quickly hurried through the door behind the counter as Mrs. Shan started talking about how sweet it was of Yun to show her youngest son the Jade Palace.

Meanwhile Xiao made his way into his room on the top floor. Due to all his older siblings having moved out, he had a rather large room all to himself.

Running into his room, he happily said, "Meng, Meng! You've got to hear this!"

There was the sound of snoring from underneath Xiao's bed suddenly stopped. "Wha-?... what?"

"One of the Masters from Jade Palace has just invited me to come to Jade Palace!" Xiao said happily. He walked over to his bed and bowed down to look under it, but the creature underneath swiftly slid out and dashed across his room and on top of his wardrobe.

"Meng?" Xiao ask surprised and walked towards his wardrobe, looking up. "Is something wrong?"

"No, I just… I just feel under the weather today," the voice excused himself. "But don't let that stop you! You should go there – it's your dream to become a Kung Fu Master after all, isn't it?"

"Yeah!" Xiao said excitedly. "Won't you come along?"

"You know I'm not much of an… outside-person," Meng said from on top of the wardrobe. "But… okay, for you only, I will come along… But you just won't be able to see me…"

"Alright!" Xiao said happily, regardless of him being able to see his mysterious friend or not. The mysterious guy, Meng, had appeared in the boy's room a few days ago. At first Xiao had of course been frightened at first, naturally, but soon the young rabbit had found a friend in the mysterious creature under his bed – or inside his wardrobe or on top of it.

Granted, he had never seen what Meng looked like, but he had a kind voice, so it wasn't like he was a monster or something.

Making his way downstairs and into the shop again, Xiao found his parents and Yun, still talking. "Alright, I'm ready to go!"

"Great," Yun said with a smile. "Let's go then!"

* * *

"So you've always been interested in Kung Fu?" Yun asked Xiao as the two made their way through the village.

"Not really" Xiao admitted. "It was only because I saw you and your friends fight against those bad guys the other day!"

"Oh yeah," Yun said, having almost forgotten about the fight against Baoda and his baboon minions. "So I guess that inspired you, hmm?"

"Yeah, totally!" Xiao said happily. "I want to be just like you guys!"

"It's great to have dreams," Yun said with a smile. "Keep onto those, kid. Who knows, maybe one day, you'll become a Master too, perhaps?"

"Oh, that'd be so great!" Xiao said. It made Yun happy to see the kid smile, but as they made their way towards the Jade Palace, Yun couldn't help but feel like he was being watched the entire time.

He stopped and turned around to look. But no one was there. Strange.

"Have you ever tried to have any tutoring in Kung Fu?" Yun asked. Xiao shook his head. "Not at all?"

"Well… I have played around in my room if that counts," Xiao said with a smile, making Yun chuckle.

"I guess it's your lucky day," Yun said with a smile. Little did the rooster know, what was currently following them. Through the shadows of the village, Meng was moving, following the two.

This was perfect… It was just the day he had been waiting for. He had been waiting for a few days, ever since the Furious Five had fought together. Now he could finally get what he had been wanting for days!

* * *

When Yun and Xiao finally entered the gate to Jade Palace, the little rabbit looked like he could faint from excitement.

"This… is… amazing!" Xiao said excitedly. Yun just chuckled and started showing him around. The rooster decided that it would be best to start with the training hall first, since the Hall of Warriors probably would be the 'main attraction' to the rabbit.

Upon entering, Yun found that the only person there was Ai Long. She was training with the Seven Swinging Clubs of Instant Oblivion. All Ai Long was really able to do was dodge them as they were indestructible. But that was already hard enough when considering that she stood on rotating wooden dragon structures.

When she saw Yun, she jumped off and went over to say hello. She was somewhat surprised when she saw Xiao. He just stared at her, recognizing her as well.

"Hi Yun, who's your little friend there?" she asked with a smile.

"My name is Xiao," the little rabbit spoke, still utterly excited from seeing yet another student of Jade Palace.

"He saw us fight against those baboons," Yun explained. "He's been dreaming of being a Kung Fu Master too, so I thought I'd show him around."

"Aww, how nice," Ai Long said with a smile. "Yun, I have to go; I promised to help Master Oogway and Shifu in the archives. But maybe you should teach Xiao a little?"

"Oh, that would be so cool!" Xiao said happily. With a smile Yun walked up so that they faced Xiao. They then brought their arms (And wings) backwards in a sideways v-formation.

"This is the starting position," Yun explained. At this Xiao took on the same pose as good as he could. Yun then showed Xiao a few simple techniques; mainly some punches and kicks for beginners of Kung Fu.

"So, those are a few moves," Yun said. "Someday, I might be able to teach you some more."

"Yay!" Xiao said excitedly. "So how did I do?"

"How do you think yourself?" a sudden voice asked sarcastically. Yun immediately looked around surprised. Maybe someone or something had followed them!

"Meng…" Xiao stuttered, hurt by his harsh words.

"Who are you?" Yun asked, looking around the training hall. He could hear the stranger as he constantly switched location, but Yun wasn't able to see him yet. "Show yourself!"

"I'm the dark of your shadow," the mysterious voice said. "I'm the darkness that lurks under the bed."

"Quit the nonsense," Yun said, surprised by how seriously he sounded himself.

"Meng, what are you doing?" Xiao asked.

"Bringing you the truth, you little fool," the mysterious voice replied. "I know you dream of being a Kung Fu Master. But if you could see yourself, you'd realize just how big a disgrace you are to Kung Fu."

"It's the truth," Meng continued as Xiao fell to his knees, tears streaming down his face. "You're never going to be a Master, just face it."

"Knock it off!" Yun growled at Meng, still trying to figure out where he was. "Xiao don't listen to him…"

"But he will," Meng snickered. "After all…" Suddenly something landed in the corner of the training hall. Walking towards Yun and Xiao was a Chinese Crocodile Lizard. He had rough-looking, scaled skin all over in various shades of brown and he wore black robes with some purple trims – a very poisonous shade of purple.

"After all…" Meng replied, an evil smile on his face. "After all… he has shared all of his dreams with me – I'm simply here to crush them."

Out of anger, Yun jumped towards Meng with a kick, hitting successfully. The reptile fell backwards, landing on his back, but managed to do a backwards roll and get into a crouched position, one hand on the ground.

"But it seems my work here is done," Meng said and ran for the door of the training hall. Just then, Ai Long opened the door and swiftly Meng jumped past her and outside.

"What the-?" Ai Long didn't manage to say anything else as Yun dashed towards her, following after Meng.

"Take care of Xiao!" Yun shouted as he spread his wings and jumped over Ai Long. Ai Long just turned around and as she saw the crying boy she hurried over to him.

* * *

Yun chased after Meng across the palace's courtyard, past Lumang and Fenghuang who were training outside. Ignoring their questions, the rooster ran as fast as he could, trying to catch the crocodile lizard.

Finally they came to the gate of the palace and as Meng started running and jumping down the staircase to the village, Yun simply spread out his wings and flew, or rather hovered, down.

Yun angled his wings and stretched his body to make it as streamlined as possible. This gained him a lot of speed and eventually he almost reached the reptile. Yun kept going, but turned himself around so that his talons fell first.

Finally impacting, Yun hit the lizard's back and the two fell down the staircase, stumbling all the way – and they weren't even halfway down.

It was painful. But Yun kept holding onto Meng with his talons all the way – even despite the pain of hitting the steps countless times. But he didn't let go – he did it for Xiao; for Xiao, Yun had to beat this guy, give him what he deserved.

Finally landing at the end of the staircase, Meng managed to push Yun off, but Yun soon jumped towards the reptile again, constantly kicking him. Yun was so angry that he didn't even make his usual Kung Fu noises when fighting.

It was obvious that Meng didn't know Kung Fu, so it was no problem for Yun to fight him. Yun completely forgot that he wasn't actually supposed to use Kung Fu for attack, but he didn't care; this guy was one of the worst creeps that Yun had ever met – crushing a child's dream…

Suddenly Meng actually managed to block one of Yun's attacks. Right after that, Meng turned around and hit Yun in the head with his tail.

"You can't stop me," Meng said in a sinister voice. "I am darkness."

"Why did you even crush his dreams?" Yun growled at Meng.

"For fun, what else?" Meng asked. "I do it for fun of course!"

And with these final words, Meng ran off. Growling out of anger, Yun ran after him, but suddenly he felt strong arms stop him.

"Yun, relax!" Ai Long told the rooster, doing her best to keep him from chasing after the lizard.

"No, I don't want to relax!" Yun nearly screamed. "I have to… to-!"

"Yun! Xiao is fine," Ai Long said, getting the rooster to finally calm a little down. "I talked to him… he's alright."

"Are you sure?" Yun asked, still struggling to get free.

"Yes, he didn't take it well, but he'll survive – he said that himself." Finally Yun calmed down. The rooster was breathing heavily, but didn't try to chase after Meng. "Come on, let's go back."

* * *

"Are… are you okay?" Yun asked Xiao once he got back to the palace. The rabbit still had tearstains on his cheeks, but other than that, he seemed to be fine.

"Yes, I'm fine," the rabbit said, still sounding somewhat hurt.

"You are?" Yun asked surprised. "Are you sure? He crushed your dream; you looked pretty devastated."

"Yes, I'm sure," Xiao said. "After all, I still have hope."

"Hope?" Yun asked, not quite understanding. "But if you dreams are crushed… what do you have left? Dreams are important, right?

Xiao nodded, sending the rooster a reassuring smile. "I love having dreams. I was hurt by his words, but… I know that I can become whatever I want to."

"How?"

"By working hard for it, of course," Ai Long said, finally joining in on the conversation. "Xiao, all you need is a dream – a goal – and if you do your best, you'll achieve it."

Xiao's small eyes were beaming with newly found hope and dreams, making Yun smile. And then he realized that the two were right – dreams and ambitions weren't the same thing.

"I think you've been through enough trouble for today," Yun told Xiao. "What about we go get something to eat at Mr. Ping's?"


	6. Blessed Wind

**A/N:** This chapter is the last of the character chapters - now we'll get to the real stories. Keep in mind that these will all be oneshots, just like the previous chapters. :) This chapter is also dedicated to a friend I've gotten here, Babycakes22. Becuase of her recent birthday and the word 'bless', which she uses a lot, I decided to name it 'Blessed Wind'. :) So, I hope you all, especialle Babycakes22, like it! :D

* * *

"Fenghuang, I have a letter for you," the palace messenger said upon entering the kitchen where the Five were currently eating breakfast. It was clear to all that the relationship between all the individual members had gotten better; Lumang and Shifu weren't killing each other, but they weren't quite talking to each other that much.

"Who's it from?" Fenghuang asked after swallowing a mouthful of rice.

"Your parents," the goose said, about to hand her the scroll he had.

"My parents?!" Before anyone could react, Fenghuang nearly ripped it out of the goose's wing. Fenghuang quickly opened the canister that the scroll was contained in and threw it aside.

As Fenghuang read her letter, everyone simply watched her, waiting for her to react or do something at all. The silence was almost painful and all they could do was watch her.

Fenghuang quickly sped through the letter. Her eyes then widened and suddenly she dropped the scroll. The scroll landed on the floor and Fenghuang looked like she could faint.

"What is it?" Shifu asked, somewhat shocked by her reaction.

"My dad…" Fenghuang said, still looking like she could faint any second.

"What about him?" Yun asked.

"Is he…?" Ai Long asked, fearing the worst right away.

"He's coming…" Fenghuang said, letting herself fall back into her chair and slide a little down, so that only her head was visible above the edge of the kitchen table.

"Coming?" Shifu asked.

"Here!" Fenghuang said.

"But that's great news," Ai long said. "I mean, I haven't seen my family since I got here."

"Yeah, but your parents aren't my dad," Fenghuang groaned. "He's going to complain about just about anything! He's going to say that I'm irresponsible – even when I do take responsibility!"

"Ah… I don't believe he's really that bad," Ai Long said.

"Ha, just wait," Fenghuang said with a groan, getting back up into a more proper sitting position.

"Stern parents?" Lumang asked.

"Parent," Fenghuang corrected him with a sigh. "Anyways, we should go get ready for training, right?"

"Agreed," Shifu said, bluntly ignoring what they had been talking about mere moments ago. Ai Long on the other hand was worried about her friend.

"Are you really sure it'll be that bad?" she asked the eagle owl as the five students made their way towards the training hall.

"I'm certain," Fenghuang replied.

"Hmm… maybe, but isn't it just a bit nice to see him again?" Ai Long asked. "A tiny bit?"

Fenghuang didn't reply, just chose to basically ignore Ai Long's question. Ai Long was still worried about Fenghuang, but decided to not talk about it if Fenghuang didn't want to.

Shifu was somewhat worried as well. He thought it sounded like Fenghuang had a very strict father, who expected way too much of his daughter. And obviously Fenghuang didn't seem to feel like her father was proud of her in the slightest.

Shifu, always wanting to make his Master proud understood her. Just then, Shifu decided to help her. Walking over to Fenghuang, he whispered, "Hey, Fenghuang?"

"Yeah?" she replied.

"I think I know a technique that will make your father proud," Shifu whispered. Fenghuang's eyes widened slightly and she now looked way less depressing.

"How?" she asked, almost sounding desperate.

"Well, there's this technique that was developed by Master Dog," Shifu said. "It has been classified as impossible, but…"

"And how did you believe that I would ever be able to master that?" Fenghuang asked, somewhat annoyed.

"The archives… they have information about that kind of stuff," Shifu said.

"Wait, isn't the archives off-limit for us students?" Fenghuang asked surprised.

"Well… in theory yes, but it wouldn't be the first time that I'd look there," Shifu said, scratching the back of his neck. "Besides, I have been looking through stuff with Oogway before."

"Oh~, so you're going to break the rules to help me?" Fenghuang asked with a smirk. "How sweet of you!"

"Hey, don't get any ideas," Shifu said with a blush. His reason was solely to help a friend in need!

As training started, Shifu excused himself and made his way towards the Hall of Warriors without saying what he was up for – Oogway had of course seemed a bit suspicious. But eventually he had let Shifu go.

Shifu hurried through the Hall of Warriors and eventually came to the Moon Pool. Passing it however, Shifu made his way to the large shelves, which were packed with countless scrolls.

Quickly knowing where to look, Shifu easily climbed all the way up, swiftly swinging from shelf to shelf. Soon Shifu started searching, opening and closing several scrolls before finding the one he was looking for.

Hurrying back to the training hall where the others were waiting, Shifu found that Oogway fortunately wasn't there. Perfect! This meant that he and Fenghuang could practice the move without the old Master questioning it!

"Fenghuang," Shifu said once the eagle owl landed beside him after having trained with the Gauntlets of Wooden Warriors. "I found it."

"So, what is the move called?" Fenghuang asked.

"Shifu opened the scroll and looked. "The Thundering Wind Hammer."

"That sounds cool," Fenghuang said, chuckling. "I just hope it is actually as cool as its name."

Fenghuang got to a space in the training hall, which wasn't taken up by any big training mechanisms and asked Shifu what to do. Shifu looked at the scroll, reading the description of the move, then reading the guide to how to perform it. Seemingly it required a high level of Chi Energy… and that would also require a lot of experience.

"First, you have any idea about how to use Chi Moves?" Shifu asked. Fenghuang shrugged.

"Kind of… I haven't really trained it too much, but I do know some."

"Great." Shifu read the guide once again. He didn't sound that complicated to perform, but it was the Chi channeling itself that made the move hard to perform. "First, it says that you need to rotate around your own axis as you gather Chi Energy."

"… What, like seriously?" Fenghuang asked with one of her long eyebrows raised, a very confused look on her face.

"Yes," Shifu said. "At least that's what it says right here."

Fenghuang just sighed to herself, knowing that she would for sure look silly when doing this. But if it was such a special move, why not just give it a try? Even if it didn't work, it would most likely still be worth it.

"Okay, here I go," Fenghuang said, spreading out her wings. Fenghuang moved her wings to the left, then thrust them to the right, immediately starting to spin around in circles at high speed.

As she did, Fenghuang suddenly felt immense energy run through her body – she had experienced this before – the first time she had fought alongside the others!

"What's next?" Fenghuang managed to ask, still spinning around.

Reading through the scroll as quick as possible, Shifu replied, "Then when you feel like you've channeled enough energy, stop spinning and release it."

Fenghuang did her best to stop, which she did manage to, but she accidentally tripped over her own feet and Shifu eventually had to catch her.

"Ugh, that went about as well as I expected," Fenghuang groaned as Shifu supported her by his arms.

"Don't worry," Shifu said as he helped Fenghuang get to stand upright again. "We still have time to practice. Did the letter say anything about when your parents would-?"

"Fenghuang!" Shifu almost jumped out of his fur and immediately let go of Fenghuang. Looking towards where the voice had come from, he saw an Eagle Owls. He, assumingly Fenghuang's father, had brownish feathers all over as a pose to Fenghuang, who was covered in gray ones.  
He also wore some incredibly expensive-looking clothes; Fenghuang's father wore flaming red robes with golden trims and though Shifu wasn't quite sure what, it seemed like it was made of some very fancy, expensive fabric.

Shifu had never thought of Fenghuang as the daughter of rich parents, but now… Now it was clear to him why she had described her father the way she had. He was probably very strict and if so, it was probably because he also knew Kung Fu.

"What on Earth are you doing?" her father wanted to know.

"Training, what else would I be doing?" Fenghuang asked, surprising Shifu by the way she defied her parent with such a tone.

"You call this nonsense training?" her father asked. "I send you to the Jade Palace so you can train and what do I see? I see you in the arms of some… some…stranger!"

"Actually he was just helping me train," Fenghuang said casually. It was obvious that she was already tired of her father's company.

"Master Huoyan, what a surprise." They all turned their heads and saw Master Oogway approach them. The old tortoise had spent all morning meditating by the Moon Pool, so of course he hadn't heard about Master Huoyan's visit.

"Master Oogway," Huoyan said and bowed quickly and shortly. "I simply came to see how my daughter is doing. It seems that she lacks quite a bit of self-discipline."

Fenghuang said nothing now that Oogway was there, but Shifu noticed that the young owl was scratching the floor with her talons.

"Fenghuang?" Oogway asked surprised. "Pardon, but I do believe that she is one of the most gifted students I have had in a while."

"Why did I catch her fooling around when everyone else was training?" Huoyan wanted to know.

At first Master Oogway said nothing. He briefly looked at Fenghuang, then back at her father. "I do believe that play is also an important part of training."

"But Master," Fenghuang started. "I wasn't playing around, I…"

"Silence," Huoyan growled. "I am truthfully sorry for the trouble, Master Oogway, but she's coming home with me, right now."

Ai Long, who was training with the Gauntlets almost got hit in the face when hearing this; similarly, Yun almost became a grilled chicken in the Field of Fiery Death.

"I will be waiting outside, Fenghuang; go pack your stuff," Huoyan said and walked towards the exit. Fenghuang was just looking down, anger and sorrow in her eyes. She had wanted to come to Jade Palace all her life and she finally had come! But of course her father just had to crush her dream!

* * *

"Fenghuang?" Fenghuang turned her head all the way around and saw Shifu stand in the door to her room. "I'm sorry."

"Nah, it's okay," Fenghuang sighed and continued gathering her stuff. She didn't really have a lot of things in her room except some clothes and a few wall scrolls.

"No, it's not," Shifu said. "It's my fault – if we hadn't tried to do the move, you wouldn't have fallen and your father wouldn't have seen you fail."

"Don't blame yourself," Fenghuang said stiffly. "It was solely my own fault."

"But… Now what?" Shifu asked.

"I don't know," Fenghuang sighed, still not looking at Shifu. "I think I'll just go back to being Fenghuang… without Kung Fu training of course."

"Aren't you sad at all?" Shifu asked worriedly. "You sound like you're just going to give up."

"Of course I am," Fenghuang said, stomping her talon against the wooden floor, leaving quite a mark. In a much softer tone, she said, "But there isn't anything I can do about it."

"But…" Shifu stopped and sighed.

"Shifu, can I… can I have a moment alone?" Fenghuang asked with a gloomy tone of voice.

"Of course," Shifu said, leaving. As soon as Shifu was gone, Fenghuang just sighed, taking a look around her room, one final time. It was unbelievable that she would never get to see this place again. Unbelievable… no unbearable.

* * *

"Goodbye, guys," Fenghuang said, sounding depressed. It was clear that this had come sooner than any of them had expected; the only one who didn't seem utterly crushed was Lumang… but that was probably just his 'tough-guy' façade, who knew…

Huoyan didn't seem too thrilled with the goodbye and told his daughter that he would be waiting by the gate.

"We're going to miss you," Ai Long said and hugged Fenghuang. "Please write us."

"I will," Fenghuang said with a reassuring smile. She then turned to Shifu. "Goodbye, Shifu – just… stop blaming yourself, okay?"

Shifu nodded, although he still felt like it was his fault. "I will. I'll miss you."

After hugging Shifu as well, she said goodbye to Yun and Lumang as well. Lumang was the only one who didn't seem to care and just stood there with his arms crossed. Fenghuang had to fly up and hug him from the side because of this.

Lastly was Master Oogway. Fenghuang didn't hug him as she felt that it wasn't appropriate to do to such a Master as Oogway. Instead, she simply bowed and said, "Goodbye, Master Oogway – it was an honor to be your student."

"Oh, but we will see again soon," the old tortoise said mysteriously, followed by a light chuckle. Fenghuang was a little confused, didn't quite believe him, but she just smiled and made her way towards the gate as well where Huoyan was waiting.

Once she got there, the two exited the gate, Fenghuang looking back at her friends one final time. She then took off and alongside her father the two hovered downwards towards the village.

* * *

The two hadn't been flying for a long time before it happened. They had just gotten out of the boundaries of the village when suddenly something hit Huoyan. It was a piece or rope with two metallic spheres attached in each end. As it had ensnared the older owl, he fell to the ground.

Fenghuang was just lucky enough to dodge the next rope that was thrown towards her. Diving towards the ground at high speed, Fenghuang landed and saw that the ones who had attacked them were a gang of mountain cats.

One of them walked over to Huoyan, took a hold of the rope that held him captured and lifted his face towards his own. "Give us all you have."

"We have nothing of value," Huoyan said. Then suddenly one of the mountain cats saw Fenghuang, who was carrying a bag – the bag with her belongings.

"Liar," he growled and walked towards Fenghuang.

"Fenghuang, get out of here," Huoyan growled, not believing that his daughter could even fight. Fenghuang knew this and in anger and annoyance towards her father, she kept her ground.

"A brave little bird, huh?" the mountain cat said and tossed Huoyan to the ground. "Let's teach her not to be so 'brave', shall we?"

As the gang – about twenty or more – closed in on Fenghuang. The first one charged her with a tackle, but Fenghuang took a half step back and kicked him in the chest with a powerful kick.

She then hovered in the air for a moment, kicking his cheeks several times. Then with a powerful kick, she managed to kick him away.

"Fenghuang…" Huoyan had to admit that he was impressed by her technique – of course, she wasn't nearly as good as he was, but he was truly impressed.

"I can take care of myself," she told her father. She then took off and flew towards another mountain cat and kicked him several times in the chest. "You might want to take all my decisions for me… but I am grown-up enough to take some myself."

With no more words, Fenghuang started fighting the bandits off for real. She blocked a punch with her one wing, then spun around in a circle and hit him in his face with her other wing.

Fenghuang once again got into the air, did a backflip, hitting a mountain cat that tried to ambush her from behind. She then used her wings to block punches from the mountain cats as well as punch them.

Just as it was going perfectly, something suddenly landed behind her with a loud "Begowk!"

Turning around, Fenghuang found Yun, splatted out on the ground. "Yun, what are you doing here?"

"I… we, we didn't want to just let you go," Yun said. "I guess we thought we could somehow convince your father to let you stay?"

"We?" Fenghuang looked up and suddenly saw the others. "You're all here?"

"Of course," Shifu said, a small smile on his face. He then noticed the bandits, but it seems we have something to take care of first."

"Furious Five, use these!" The Five looked up and saw three palace messenger geese come flying. The three geese dropped something, which the five were just barely able to catch. These things were all wrapped in robes and the five quickly unraveled them.

"… Weapons!" Fenghuang said surprised. Master Oogway had sent them weapons!

"Finally!" Lumang said, swinging his Long-Handled Sword about a little. The only downside to these were the fact that they were made of wood – which was probably because they were still novices and hadn't had weapon training before.

"I like it," Yun said, having received a Straight Sword. Likewise, Ai Long had gotten a Wind-and-Fire Ring and Shifu had a Staff. The Five had had some weapon training with some of the palace's training weapons, but they guessed that these were gifts for them to own. Fenghuang however had something different; wooden wing blades.

She could somehow slide her wing feathers right into very, very thin slots in the wood… but they fit perfectly!

"Now, that's unfair!" one of the mountain cats growled. Suddenly he drew a dagger and the other members of the gang also seemed to carry weapons, though most were just random parts of wood or metal.

Swinging her wings about a little to get used to the wooden blades, Fenghuang stepped forwards. "Let's deliver some pain, guys."

At this they all broke out into small team-fights. Shifu and Ai Long took on one part of the gang of bandits.

Charging forwards, Shifu swung his staff about, doing several techniques that were meant for intimidation. It also did seem to work. Suddenly a mountain cat with a wooden club charged Shifu. Shifu blocked and spun around and smashed his new staff against the cat's torso. The staff was a little bit taller than he was, but nonetheless, it was the perfect length.

Shifu jumped into the air, did a front flip and smashed his staff downwards against one of the cats' shoulder. Coming up with a good name, Shifu decided to call it the Jade Dragon Fang.

It sure did seem to harm the cat's shoulder quite a bit, but nothing that Shifu would really worry about.

At the same time, Ai Long found that her Wind-and-Fire Wheel was perfect for blocking incoming attacks. As she would block, she would use her free hand and her legs for attacks. Hitting a cat in the face with a few powerful kicks, Ai Long jumped backwards, spinning around in a circle once she landed, hitting several cats in the face.

"Oh, how I love this thing," Ai Long said, swinging it about a few times before proceeding with the fight.

Meanwhile, Lumang and Yun took care of another group of mountain cats. Even with the wooden blade, Lumang was already fond of his Long-Handled Sword. Not only did it allow multiple ways to hold it as well as space enough for Lumang to hold it, but it also proved to be good for heavy slash-attacks.

Similarly, Yun's Straight Sword proved more suited for quick and short slashes. Blocking several attacks, Yun and his Kung Fu-noises easily overpowered the mountain cats.

"Whose idea was it to even give a chicken a sword?" one of the cats asked with a snicker and tried to stab Yun with a dagger.

"I'm not a chicken! I'm a rooster!" Yun jumped into the air and held his sword with his talons, then making himself spin around in circles at high speed. "Take this: Ya-Ya-Slash!"

"You just named your attack slash?" Lumang asked, confused by why Yun would say two of his usual Kung Fu-noises before the word 'slash'.

"No, it's called the Ya-Ya-Slash!" Yun replied.

In the middle of the fight, Fenghuang fought against the leader and a few minions. The leader's dagger was something that she would have to watch out for, but Fenghuang swiftly dodged all of his attacks.

Finally, as he slashed downwards, she managed to stop the blade by clashing her wings together on either side.

"You'll need more to stop us," the leader snickered.

"Something like this?" Fenghuang asked and kicked him in the chest area. He stumbled backwards, but Fenghuang was soon at it again. She jumped up and grabbed his shoulders with his talons. Bringing him about a foot into the air, she let go and quickly did a spin midair and kicked him in the stomach so that he hit the rest of the little group she was fighting.

_Okay, it's now or never – I have to succeed._ Fenghuang landed and brought her wings to the right, then spun around to the left at high speed. This time it was different from earlier, she felt a great power rush through her, almost making her gasp from the sensation. She had experienced this before, but this time she didn't freak out and lose control.

No, she kept going. Finally she stopped and brought her wings forwards towards the mountain cats. "Thundering… Wind Hammer!"

Fenghuang felt the immense Chi Energy finally escape her. She could feel it run through her wings and before she knew it, a bluish purple light escaped her wings. Soon a wave of energy shot at the cats that were all taken by surprise and even blown away.

"The Thundering Wind Hammer," Huoyan said impressed, having watched his daughter fight all along. When Fenghuang came over to free him, he asked, "How did you learn that?"

"I don't know, I just did," Fenghuang replied, somewhat absent.

"But it is an impossible move," Huoyan said.

"Dad, I am capable of doing so much more than you think," Fenghuang said determinedly once she had helped her father up. "I realized this while I was here."

"I have made a mistake, it seems," Huoyan said surprising Fenghuang – this was the first time her old father had ever admitted that he had made a mistake. "And I only realized this too late. I have never been good at realizing my own mistakes. That is why your mother left us."

"I know," Fenghuang said with a sigh.

"You do?"

"Of course," Fenghuang said. "A few years back, I found the letter she wrote you."

"Fenghuang… I'm sorry," Huoyan said and embraced his daughter. The two stayed like that, didn't talk for a while and completely ignored the battle that was raging on around them. It seemed like an eternity.

Suddenly the moment was interrupted by Shifu. "Eh… Master Huoyan? It's not to ruin the moment or anything, but… eh… the bandits are gone now."

* * *

"So you're going to stay?" Ai Long squealed happily as the five sat around the kitchen table.

"Yes, of course," Fenghuang said as Shifu brought the dinner onto the table – it was his turn to cook. "My dad saw me perform the Thundering Wind Hammer."

"The Thundering Wind Hammer?!" Yun asked impressed.

"Quite impressive, Fenghuang." The Five turned their heads and saw Oogway in the door. "And it seems that I was right also. Welcome back."

"No, not welcome back," Fenghuang said with a smile and a gleam in her purple eyes. "I was never really gone."


	7. Settling Differences

**A/N:** Bam! And another chapter! ^_^ This one is one I had planned from the beginning - it was actually supposed to be linked to _Shifu's Flute_, but I couldn't quite get it to match, so... this is what you get. ^^; Enjoy! :D

* * *

The cool wind blew across the bare hills. It was afternoon and the sun was already setting in the sky in the distance. Everything seemed completely calm, except a group of shaded figures making their way across the hills.

"I told you all," the leader told his minions. "No prison can keep Baoda and his gang locked in!"

"But there are still a lot of us who didn't make it," one of the other baboons pointed out, stating the obvious.

"Feng?" Baoda asked.

"Yes?"

"Shut up." And with no further words, the baboon gang continued their prison break. Baoda was only focused on one thing; getting away from that cursed prison and getting some real food for once – the food in the prison was horrible!

Soon the sun was almost completely set and Baoda and his gang came to a forest. The forest was already fairly dark, but the baboons still managed to make their way through.

It was perfect! Baoda was finally free of the prison and so was most of his gang – okay, actually most of his gang was still in prison; he only had about ten minions with him.

Then something appeared in front of the baboons, making them stop suddenly; a pair of shining, yellow eyes. At first the primates were startled, but as soon as the voice of the eyes' owner spke, they knew who it was.

"Seems like someone let the monkeys out of their cage," Ai Long spoke.

"You again?" Baoda growled. "Get out of the way; we don't have time for some girl."

"Who said she was alone?" Another pair of eyes appeared in the darkness – a pair of purple ones. "You're actually surrounded, so why don't you stay nice and come with us back to prison?"

"Never!" Baoda growled and jumped towards Fenghuang, hands above his head, ready to smash them down towards the Eagle Owl. But suddenly someone hit Baoda midair with a kick.

"How annoying," Shifu said. "Let's just finish this quick, then get these clowns back where they should be."

"Agreed," Yun said and landed beside Shifu. "Wait, where's Lumang?"

"Late again, I suppose," Shifu sighed and rolled his eyes. So typical. "But we don't need him, let's just take them out. Tian!"

Right after Shifu called, a few wing beats were heard from above and soon the Five's weapons fell into their hands. As Lumang was not present, Yun managed to catch the Long-Handled Sword with his left wing, dual-wielding two weapons.

Yun jumped forwards, but soon found the Long-Handled Sword to be heavier than he had thought. The rooster eventually used his Straight Sword to attack and Lumang's Long-Handled Sword to block the attacks of the baboons.

At one point, Yun hurled his own sword into the air and then grabbed Lumang's with both wings, using it as a big lance to both slash and plow away the attacking baboons. As Yun had knocked two baboons out, his sword came back down and he caught it, then jumped into the air, grabbing his sword back-hand style and rotated midair, slashing both swords' blades against the next baboon.

"Oblivion Edge Slasher!" This move, of which the name was a mix of Yun and Lumang's signature moves, knocked the unfortunate baboon to the ground, but suddenly someone grabbed the Long-Handled Sword out of Yun's wing – due to its size, he hadn't been able to hold onto it tight enough.

But luckily it turned out to be Lumang, who had actually decided to show up.

"Let me take this from here," the elephant said and charged Baoda.

"Why do you arrive now?" Yun asked.

"I was busy, you know," Lumang said. With no further words, he charged Baoda, whom Shifu was fighting.

Shifu smashed his staff towards Baoda, but he grabbed the staff and used it to push Shifu away. And next thing Shifu knew, Lumang was attacking Baoda with his powerful sword.

Lumang delivered a few powerful slashes, of which the last two were dodged and blocked. Lumang pulled back to prepare himself for another attack. Shifu thought that he simply backed away and saw it as his chance to attack.

Quickly, Shifu charged forwards with his staff up, ready to attack, then jumped in the air. But just then, Lumang attacked as well. But instead of turning into some kind of team-attack, Lumang accidentally hit Shifu with his sword while he was midair.

Shifu was sent flying away, landing a good distance away from the others. Shifu crashed right into a tree and collapsed on the ground after that.

"Shifu, are you okay?" Ai Long quickly helped her friend up, while still fighting off baboons with her Wind-and-Fire Ring.

Shifu managed to get to his feet, but his back hurt too much for him to keep fighting. He quickly grabbed it with his hand, still trying to stand.

"I'm fine," Shifu said through gritted teeth. He managed to pick up his staff again, but Ai Long stopped him.

"No, you're not," Ai Long said.

"Then why do you ask, Ai Long?" Shifu asked, still gritting his teeth.

Lumang noticed the hurt Shifu trying to join in on the fight. "Hey, shorty, stay out of this one – you're hurt."

"Yes, but you were the one who hurt me!" Shifu growled.

"Was not," Lumang protested. "You just got in the way of my sword!"

"Well, I wouldn't have if you hadn't gotten in my way!"

As the two were standing face to face, arguing, Baoda suddenly saw it as an opening. Suddenly in the middle of their arguing, Lumang was hit in the head by a kick and soon Shifu as well. The two fell onto the ground.

Fenghuang and Yun hurried over to help Shifu and Lumang up – Fenghuang helped Shifu and Yun helped Lumang.

"Guys, are you-?"

"What's wrong with you?" Lumang growled at Shifu, interrupting Yun.

"I think that means-…"

"Like there's something wrong with me," Shifu growled back, interrupting Fenghuang.

"I take that as a-…"

"You were the one who just bashed me against a tree!"

"Eh… guys?" Ai Long asked, finally getting the two to shut up and turn their anger on something else; her.

"What?!" Ai Long jumped in surprised by being yelled at by their angry voices.

"Eh… I just wanted to point out that Baoda and the others got away – thanks to both of you," she said, crossing her arms and sighed. Suddenly Ai Long got an attitude that mostly reminded the others of a caretaker or a parent. "Why do you act like children?"

* * *

It was a beautiful tune. One of those sad, yet energetic ones; they bring you down, but they somehow also make you happy to listen to. Gently letting his tiny fingers travel up and down the smooth bamboo body, Shifu calmed his nerves and just played on and on like no one's business.

Shifu was sitting in a cross-legged position, his right side facing the Peachtree of Heavenly Wisdom, his left facing the valley beneath. Suddenly Shifu felt someone sit down, their back gently pressed against his own.

At first Shifu didn't do anything, but simply kept playing. But suddenly Fenghuang said, "You do realize that you and Lumang will have to get along again, right?"

This caused Shifu's one finger to slip too far, resulting in an awkward tone, completely ruining the melody. Shifu removed his flute from his lips and sighed.

"I can't," Shifu said.

"Why not?" Fenghuang asked. "You seem to get along with me – that's not something anyone can say they do."

"Yun is getting along with you fine and so is Ai Long," Shifu said. "Where's your point?"

"… Okay, maybe you have a point there," Fenghuang admitted. She stopped for a moment to think about what to say next. Eventually she said, "Well… if you don't, I don't think Master Oogway will like it."

"Master Oogway?" Shifu asked, ears perking up.

"Yes, Oogway," Fenghuang said, moving closer back towards Shifu, her feathers brushing up against his fur. "The Big O – the old tortoise that teaches us."

"Fenghuang, I get it," Shifu said somewhat annoyed. There was a brief silence. Then a question got onto Shifu's mind. "May I ask why you're even here to say that – I mean, out of all people?"

"Well, Yun is trying to talk to Lumang and Ai Long doesn't want to talk to either of you until the problem is solved," Fenghuang said. Fenghuang rotated her head around and pecked Shifu in the back of his head and asked, "Get it?"

"Yes, but how did you- wah!" Shifu almost dropped his flute when he turned around to see Fenghuang. Her head was turning the wrong direction!

"What?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Your head…" Shifu said.

"Never seen an owl do this before?"

"No! Is it normal for an owl?" Shifu asked confused. Fenghuang just chuckled in response.

"So are you going to give it another shot with Lumang?" Fenghuang asked finally after a minute of silence.

"I just can't," Shifu said, shaking his head. "Lumang will never even admit his own mistakes – the day he will do that, I will consider working with him. Why are you taking so easily on it anyway?"

"Well, I'm fourteen, you're eighteen, go figure," Fenghuang said and got up.

"Alright, I'll tell Oogway," Fenghuang continued teasingly and took off.

"What? Fenghuang, wait!" But she was already gone. Shifu sighed deeply to himself. He didn't know if Fenghuang would actually tell Oogway, but he just hoped that she did it just to get him to follow her back to Jade Palace.

But Fenghuang had had a point. What if it would make Oogway disappointed in Shifu? That was the worst that could happen. Shifu had been faced with many obstacles in his life, but this was the most recent one that had actually been challenging to overcome.

Shifu looked down at the flute in his hands and immediately felt bad. He had received it from the villagers of Artisan Village, even though it had actually been meant for Lumang for bringing them an item of importance. Now Shifu felt… cowardly; he was mad at Lumang, yet he sat there, playing an instrument that the elephant had given him.

Shifu sighed to himself and got up.

* * *

"Come on, Lumang," Yun said, landing on the elephant's shoulder. Lumang didn't reply, just kept punching the dummy. "I mean, I've been hanging with Shifu a few times – he's not that bad."

"There can be a mixture of opinions about that," Lumang said coldly. Little did he know, Shifu had just entered the training hall through the open door. "He just thinks that he's something special because he is Oogway's little pet – I'm doing fine without the extra attention."

"Really?" Lumang looked to his right and saw Shifu. "You'd rather just care about yourself and not have a Master to be obedient to?"

"That's my business, not yours."

"See, now you do it again," Shifu growled, feeling the anger rise up within him. "Acting like some kind of arrogant…"

Shifu didn't get to say anymore – Lumang smashed a punch against his head and before he knew it, Shifu flew across the room. This time however, Shifu had been somewhat prepared. He landed by turned himself so that he flew horizontally backwards. He hit the wall with his feet, then sprung back towards Lumang.

Full of anger, Shifu prepared himself. While midair he brought both hands backwards, then brought them forwards at full force, smashing his hands against Lumang.

The Chi energy that Shifu had gathered on the way was enough to send even the massive elephant flying a great distance. He didn't fly as far as Shifu had moments ago, but he still flew.

Lumang got to his feet, then walked over to a wooden stand on by the wall and picked up his Long-handled Sword. Shifu did the same by walking over to a stand that was closer to him and picked his staff.

"No, no, no!" Yun said. "Guys stop it!"

But Yun was ignored. Shifu and Lumang quickly took on a battle stance, then charged each other at full speed.

When the two met in the middle of the training hall, Lumang clashed his sword against Shifu's staff. Luckily both were made of the same material – otherwise Shifu's staff would have been shattered.

Shifu pushed the staff up, pushing Lumang's sword along. Shifu then smashed the end of the staff against Lumang's chest, pushing the elephant backwards. Jumping up, Shifu landed on top of his staff, which stood vertically.

As Lumang tried to attack again, Shifu simply jumped and hit the staff's end with his foot, causing it to rotate and hit Lumang in the head.

"Guys, stop it!" Ai Long nearly shouted when she and Fenghuang entered.

Ai Long was just about to rush in and stop them, but Fenghuang spread out her one wing, preventing Ai Long from going. "I think it's best to let them sort things out themselves."

Ai Long wasn't quite sure about it and neither was Yun.

Jumping off, Shifu grabbed his staff and performed the Jade Dragon Fang. He jumped high into the air and bashed his staff towards Lumang's head. Lumang blocked with his sword, making Shifu stay midair for a short moment, but soon Shifu withdrew his staff and spun around, smashing his staff against the side of Lumang's head.

Lumang fell to the floor, dropping his sword.

"You're lucky you're so fast," Lumang said lowly in a hiss. "Otherwise you'd be a dead panda."

"I have my ways of surviving," Shifu said stiffly.

"Jerk," Lumang muttered, Shifu being able to clearly hear it.

Suddenly Tian, one of the palace messengers came in, immediately telling them all about the baboon gang, which was robbing the village again. Fenghuang, Ai Long and Yun quickly hurried out, leaving Shifu and Lumang.

"But as a unit, the others and I survive," Shifu continued in the same cold tone. "The only question is: do you want to be a part of it? If you have, you'll have to adjust a little. Besides, the more we are, the bigger the odds for survival are – one can't survive all alone."

Eventually leaving to join the others, Shifu dropped his staff on the floor.

Lumang watched the red panda leave. He thought for a moment about what Shifu had just told him… He thought a lot about it in fact. "That jerk…"

"Who, Shifu?" Tian asked.

Lumang nodded. "But you know the worst part about him?"

The little goose simply shook his head.

"Being a jerk doesn't keep him from being right."

* * *

"Let's go!" Ai Long announced as she and her friends charged the baboons. She jumped forwards doing a forwards roll on the ground. When she got up again, she punched a baboon in the head, knocking him out.

As one charged her from the side, she punched him as well, then slid underneath him, grabbed him by his collar and threw him against one of his teammates.

Just as the two baboons collided, Tian dropped Ai Long's Wind-and-Fire Ring from above. Ai Long caught it in her hand, then proceeded with the fight. Using her Ring, she blocked attacks from the baboons while she used her legs for attacking by kicking.

Meanwhile, Yun tried to catch his Straight Sword as Tian dropped it from above. Unfortunately the rooster missed as he was tackled by a baboon. Falling to the ground with the baboon on top of himself, Yun kicked him continuously in the chest, eventually getting him off with a Ya-Ya-Kick.

As more baboons attacked Yun kicked them all while he hovered. Finally the rooster saw an opening and jumped forth, grabbing his sword in his wing right when he landed.

"Alright, here we go!" Yun said in an upbeat tone of voice and then started slashing vigorously around, performing his Signature Move. "Blade Edge Slasher!"

Yun managed to knock out a pretty big part of the baboons that he was fighting, though some weren't quite defeated yet. Therefore Yun decided to try something different. He brought up his sword. "So you want more? Take this: Blade Edge Toss!"

Next thing the baboons knew, a spinning, wooden sword was thrown towards them. Still spinning around, it knocked out the remaining baboons.

Fenghuang dodged a baboon's punch, then stepped backwards, jumping into the air and smashing her wing against his head. Fenghuang then jumped up, spinning around while slashing her wings around.

Once she landed again, Tian landed beside her and quickly helped her getting her wooden wing-blades attached. After that Tian hurried along to do his job – deliver weapons to the Five for the most part at least.

Fenghuang immediately started spinning around in countless circles as the baboons attacked her again, surrounding her.

"Thundering Wind Hammer!" Fenghuang gathered all her collected Chi Energy in her right wing and released it, slashing in a complete circle, knocking out the remaining baboons.

Shifu jumped forth, dodging a punch by pushing it downwards as it came towards him. Shifu then kicked the same baboon in the head. Landing on the ground, Shifu spun around in a circle, sweeping the feet of a baboon away.

As Baoda himself then attacked, he ambushed Shifu from behind, grabbing the smaller mammal around his throat. Shifu immediately grabbed a hold of Baoda's long fingers, trying to get free as he felt himself become suffocated.

"See, the little panda isn't that dangerous after all," Baoda grinned harassingly. He then started choking Shifu harder and harder. Shifu grew desperate and tried his best to escape, but it didn't help.

Suddenly something big hit Baoda's shoulders and caused the baboon to be smashed to the ground. Shifu landed on the ground as well, immediately starting to gasp for air like he had never done it before.

"See, the little baboon isn't that dangerous after all." Shifu looked up and saw Lumang. The elephant walked over to Shifu and carefully helped the little panda to the ground.

"… Thanks," Shifu said, still trying to catch his breath.

"Well, I did owe you something," Lumang said. Shifu was about to ask what, but suddenly Lumang smashed a punch against Shifu's cheek. Shifu fell to the ground again, but shortly after Lumang helped him up again.

Shifu didn't quite understand whatever Lumang was doing, but eventually the elephant started explaining.

"You made me realize something," Lumang started, tossing Baoda aside. "You were right."  
"Right about what?"

"Me," Lumang said. "I've never been part of a team before… and I realized that you guys are the best team I could ask for."

"What made you realize it?" Shifu asked, very surprised.

"Well… you might be a sassy, little fur ball," Lumang started, a little smile forming on his face. "But I realized that you were right. Why? Because it doesn't matter how many foes I face on my own; it'd be far more honorable to say that I saved you guys as well."

Shifu's eyes fell into a somewhat dull expression as Lumang's somewhat touching speech ended in a little bit of arrogance. But soon Shifu saw that Lumang was just joking as the elephant smiled.

"You're welcome," Shifu said with a smile, finally breathing normally. Just then, Tian dropped Shifu and Lumang's weapons, which they easily caught. "Shall we finish this?"

"Yeah, but one thing first," Lumang said. Next thing Shifu knew, Lumang held his Long-Handled Sword towards Shifu. Shifu immediately got the idea and took a hold of the handle of Lumang's sword, then threw his staff towards Lumang.

"Why won't you guys ever give up?" Baoda growled as the baboon had gotten to his feet.

"Because dummies like you need to learn how to give up first," Lumang replied sassily. "Let's go, Panda!"

Lumang and Shifu both charged forwards. Shifu ran in front of Lumang, then jumped into the air and Lumang immediately got the idea. Using Shifu's staff, Lumang smashed Shifu forwards.

Flying towards Baoda, Shifu brought Lumang's sword back, ready to attack. Then he brought it forwards and was ready to deliver a slash to Baoda, combining his and Lumang's signature moves. "Oblivion Dragon Quake!"

The impact smashed Baoda flying backwards, landing on the ground a few meters away. Baoda had taken a lot of damage from the powerful blow, but as soon as he got to his feet, it was Lumang's turn.

"Dragon Oblivion!" Lumang proclaimed and threw Shifu's staff at the baboon with full force. Becoming a spinning wheel of destruction it hit Baoda in the head and managed to knock out the baboon.

Picking up his staff, Shifu joined the others and along with Lumang, they all managed to send the rest of Baoda's minions running. The Five knew that they'd only commit crimes when Baoda was there to tell them to, so they were no threat now that they'd send their boss to prison… again.

* * *

"Very well done, students," Master Oogway said calmly. Baoda had been sent to prison and the Furious Five were back at the palace, standing in front of the Moon Pool, facing their master. It was late night, but before they'd go to bed, Master Oogway wanted to praise his students for their job – especially two of them.

"I am especially proud of you; Shifu, Lumang," Master Oogway said, smiling at the two. "You were able to overcome each other's' differences and work together."

Shifu was beaming like a little sun and Lumang couldn't help but smile too.

"It wasn't that hard," Lumang grinned. "It just took a little talking and fighting – nothing special."

"Very well," Master Oogway said smiling. "And you two are sure that you will get along from now on?"

Shifu nodded, smiling.

"I have heard that you didn't use to get along when you were out," Master Oogway said, surprising Shifu, causing his ears to twitch. He looked over at Fenghuang, but the Eagle Owl suddenly seemed to find the Golden Dragon in the ceiling very interesting.

"Yeah, but now it's all good," Shifu said, smiling faintly.

"Very well," master Oogway said with a smile. "That is all students – I'm proud of you three as well. You may go to bed now – we begin again at dawn."

"Oh, I'm so happy to hear that you're getting along," Ai Long said, picking up Shifu for a hug and hugging Lumang's side as well.

"Well, it isn't that much of a big deal anymore," Lumang said with a smile. "It can only go upwards from here!"

"Speaking of upwards, Fenghuang~…" Fenghuang hurried away, but Shifu followed her. One she took off, Shifu dashed after her, yelling about how she could even bring herself to tell Master Oogway about such things.


	8. Break Out, Blessed Wind!

**A/N:** Whew! It's been a while since an update, hasn't it? I'm sorry, but I've been busy this Easter, so... yeah. Also, this chapter was pretty 'forced', so it's not quite worth a lot of attention, at least not until the last part, if you'd ask me. ^^; This will be the first in a new ark, which will most likely only be a two-parter, but still. ;) I hope you enjoy! (BTW, there are new tracks added to the soundtrack, please check them out on my profile, thanks!)

* * *

Fenghuang sighed to herself. She grabbed a hold of her chopsticks and led some noodles up to her beak. She chewed on the noodles, tasting the wonderful flavor of Mr. Ping's special soup. But even with the amazing taste, Fenghuang just sighed to herself once again.

"Fenghuang," Wu, Mr. Ping's son said as he passed by her table to get some used bowls from the one next to hers. "Why the long face?"

"Nah, it's nothing," Fenghuang said. But the eagle owl didn't fool the young goose.

"You know, if there is something wrong, it usually helps to talk about it," Wu said. He then carried the dishes over to the counter. A few moments later, he returned and continued. "If I can help, just ask, you know."

"Of course," Fenghuang said, forcing a smile. She sighed again.

"See, there it is again," Wu said. "Sure you don't want to talk about it?"

"Wu, it's just some nostalgia," Fenghuang said, doing her best to make it sound like it was nothing.

"Nostalgia?" Wu asked. "Nostalgia… Nostalgia can be hard to deal with."

"Yeah, guess so," Fenghuang said. "I'm sorry, but I think I will need to handle this myself… but thanks."

"You're welcome," Wu said. "Just tell me if you need anything."

Fenghuang just forced another smile, then returned to her noodles. It didn't matter if anyone helped her, talked to her or whatever… Nostalgia would remain nostalgia and that was it.

"Hi Fenghy!" Fenghuang almost fell off her chair in surprise. She snapped out of her deep thinking and looked over at Ai Long, who had just sat down by her table.

"Oh, it's just you," Fenghuang said, sounding like there was no point to her life anymore.

"Eh… Hello to you too," Ai Long said, sounding both somewhat insulted and surprised.

Fenghuang sighed at Ai Long's tone. "Sorry…"

"It's okay… is something wrong?"

"I guess."

"Want to talk about it?"

Fenghuang sighed lowly, looking around for a moment. She quickly slurped down the last bit of noodle soup. Fenghuang finally placed some money on the table (Adding some extra tips for Wu) and got up. "Not here… How 'bout we go for a walk?"

"Sure," Ai Long said and exited alongside Fenghuang. Fenghuang didn't even know why she agreed on letting Ai Long hear what was up. Maybe it was because she was the only other girl on the team?

"Alright, where do I start...?" Fenghuang muttered. Ai Long just waited for her friend to speak, letting the young owl find the words at her own pace. "Well… it started a few years ago."

"In my village… there was this guy in my village," Fenghuang continued. "His name was Jufeng and we were best friends."

"Oh~," Ai Long said, believing that she had finally understood. "So you just miss your friend."

"I wish it was just that," Fenghuang said, somewhat bitterly. "You see, about a year ago… He stopped talking to me all of sudden."

"But… just like that?" Ai Long asked, surprised and with a tone of compassion.

"Well… first he suddenly started acting mean towards me… like he was repelling me somehow."

"What a jerk," Ai Long said in a compassionate tone. But instead of seeing her friend be cheered up, it just seemed to bring Fenghuang's mood even lower. "Sorry, I just… Is there something I can do to cheer you up; anything?"

"I don't know…" Fenghuang sighed.

"Wait, may I ask you a question?" Fenghuang nodded in response. "Did you ever find out why he left you like that?"

Fenghuang sighed once again as if it was the regular way for her to breathe. "Not really… although I heard that his parents had found a girl that they wanted him to marry."

"Really?" Fenghuang nodded in response again. "How much older than you was he?"

"Well… about four years older, I think," Fenghuang replied. The two came to the outskirts of the village and continued, even exiting the boundaries of the village without noticing. "But we had been friends since I was born, almost."

"Oh…" Ai Long now understood fully why this was all bothering Fenghuang. Having a friendship for so long… then having it shattered for no apparent reasons suddenly… It must have been hurtful.

Ai Long just realized how lucky she was herself; back home she still had tons of friends, but she hadn't written any letters for the people back home. Ai Long now felt like she had to, in order to keep the contact.

"I'm sorry," Ai Long said. At first Fenghuang didn't reply, but then she just shrugged and told Ai Long that it was okay and that she had no reason for worrying.

Ai Long was still worried about Fenghuang, but when the owl looked away, so did Ai Long. And as she did, Ai Long just realized that they were out of town.

"Eh… Fenghuang, I think we better turn around," Ai Long said. Fenghuang also noticed that the two had gone out of the village. The young owl seemed very surprised as well and the two immediately agreed on returning.

But just as they were about to, someone suddenly landed in front of them. The two girls immediately took a step backwards and got into a defensive stance. The guy in front of them got to his feet and the two were able to see what he really was.

He was an eagle of some sort, covered in brown feathers all over, except some white ones that covered his head and most of his neck. For a few seconds, he didn't say a thing. He simply looked at Fenghuang and Ai Long.

"Who are you?" Fenghuang asked, her mood changing completely; if Ai Long didn't know that the owl had been sad moments ago, she would have never guessed it.

"Doesn't matter," the eagle said shortly. Suddenly Ai Long noticed that more people landed around them – all avians, but very different. There were falcons, eagles, even swans and they all wore torn clothes. They seemed to be used to hard lives as most of them seemed to have battle scars.

"Get them," the eagle said. "Take everything of value."

He then turned around and just as he was about to take off, Fenghuang noticed a certain charm that hung off of his one talon. It was a medallion, golden in color, seemingly made of wood.

Fenghuang immediately recognized it; she had given it to Jufeng once! Without thinking Fenghuang took off and followed him. She crashed right into him with her talons first, making both of them fall to the ground.

"Fenghuang!" Ai Long called, but Fenghuang didn't even notice. In a rage, she started attacking the eagle, throwing one Thundering Wind-Hammer after the other at him. Due to her not spinning a lot around to collect Chi Energy, the Wind-Hammers that she attacked him with weren't very strong.

"What do you think you're doing?" the eagle growled at her after recovering from one of her Chi-Attacks.

"What have you done to him?" Fenghuang almost roared. She spun around a few times, avoiding the eagle's talons. She then fired the violet blast of Chi at him through her wing

He flew a meter or so backwards, landing on the ground, but quickly got up and jumped towards Fenghuang with a tackle. The attack knocked her backwards, almost causing her to fall.

"I don't know what you think you're talking about," the eagle hissed. Fenghuang jumped forth with a kick, but the eagle managed to block it somehow with one of his big wings. "So just leave me alone, you stupid owl."

The eagle pushed Fenghuang backwards and she did a backflip and landed on the ground again. Fenghuang then spread out her wings and with an angry expression on her face, she flapped her wings with mighty force, whipping up a gust.

The eagle almost fell over, but eventually took advantage of the gust and tried to escape. Fenghuang took off as well and flew towards him, her talons first.

The eagle turned around midair about to block, but Fenghuang had another tactic in mind. She changed course midair and instead she flew past him, slashing with her wing feathers in the process.

Fenghuang was headed for the ground and she used her feet to take off again, gaining even more speed as she repeated the same attack, just from a different angle.

Flying past him again, Fenghuang did a half backflip with a turn and charged him. Fenghuang clashed against him at high speed she held onto him with her wings, keeping his close against his own body. The two started falling and Fenghuang used her own talons to get the medallion off of the eagle's talon.

As soon as she got it, she jumped away, getting herself into the air. The eagle just barely managed to become airborne, avoiding hitting the earth by an inch. He then charged her again, but suddenly voices were heard from behind him.

Surprised the eagle stopped and Fenghuang also looked to see who it was. It was the others; Shifu, Lumang and Yun!

Shifu jumped into the air, did a sideways spin and hit the eagle with a kick, knocking him to the ground.

"Lumang, Yun, help Ai Long," Shifu said, seeing that the leopardess was having some trouble with the many avians.

"Right on it," Lumang said, picking up Yun and throwing him towards the other avians like an empty bag. The rooster hit a falcon with a kick while he was midair and he soon landed next to Ai Long.

"What are you guys doing here?" the leopardess asked with a relieved tone of voice.

"We heard that there was a fight going on – some people told us," Yun explained, so we came to help.

"Couldn't you also have sent-…?" Before Ai Long could finish the sentence Yun's Straight Sword hit him in the head. Luckily it was wrapped up and made of wood, so it didn't hurt the rooster. Before the same thing could happen to her, Ai Long looked up and caught her Wind-and-Fire Ring. "Tian, thanks!"

"No problem!" the little goose called as he continued on with his job. He eventually delivered Lumang's Long-Handled Sword and Shifu's Staff to their respective owners and as usual he ended his round with Fenghuang.

Tian kept a bit of a distance at first, seeing that Fenghuang was pretty busy fighting off the eagle. Eventually Fenghuang noticed the goose and pulled back, allowing Tian to attach the wooden Wing Blades to her win feathers.

Just as Tian finished off her left wing and was about to continue onto her right the eagle struck. He hit Fenghuang from behind with his talons first. Fenghuang fell headfirst onto the ground, but soon delivered a strike to the eagle with her wooden wing-blades.

Once she got to her feet, the eagle charged her again with a tackle, but this time, she simply hammered her wing down against his shoulder, knocking him to the ground.

Just then, a falcon was about to attack Fenghuang from behind. Just before he did attack her, a bamboo staff suddenly came flying and hit the falcon in the back of his head. The staff landed on the ground after knocking out the smaller avian and Fenghuang picked it up in her left wing.

"Shifu, I'll be borrowing this," Fenghuang called and charged the eagle. Shifu just shrugged and kept on fighting with his fists and legs.

Fenghuang blocked one of the eagle's talon attacks with Shifu's staff, then slashed him across his chest with her Wing Blades on her left wing. Fenghuang jumped off the ground and kicked him with her left talon and then started spinning around, collecting Chi Energy within her body.

The eagle knew what she was doing and charged her, but was ultimately hit by her wing blades, even while she was still spinning around at high speed.

Finally stopping, Fenghuang released all of the built-up energy through her left wing and before it hit the eagle, the also threw Shifu's Staff, getting the staff mixed with the purple energy beam. The impact with the eagle caused a minor explosion of light, but nothing amazing.

Fenghuang walked towards the knocked out eagle, moving the Wind Blades slightly as she did so.

"Fenghuang, wait," Ai Long said. Fenghuang stopped once she heard the fear in Ai Long's voice. Fenghuang looked down at her own wing – the left one with the Wing Blades. She just realized how angry she had been… if she hadn't been stopped… Who knew what she would have done?

Realizing all of this, Fenghuang shook her hand, knocking off the Wing Blades.

* * *

Ai Long soundlessly made her way down the hallway of the barracks. When she finally reached Fenghuang's room, she carefully knocked the door – as Fenghuang's friend, it was her responsibility to make sure she was all fine… Oogway had told her this.

"Fenghuang?" Ai Long asked. There was no response, so Ai Long decided to let herself in. Opening the door, Ai Long found the owl sitting on her bed, looking out of the window.

Ai Long could already tell that she had been crying, seeing that there were stains from her tears all the way from her eyes and across her cheeks. Ai Long's ears dropped as she slowly approached the young owl.

"Are you okay?" She didn't answer. "Fenghuang, I was talking to Master… And the others… and…

"I just…" Fenghuang lost it and threw whatever she had been holding in her right wing across the room. It managed to fly through the paper door. Looking through the hole, Ai Long suddenly saw Master Oogway's face come into view.

"Fenghuang," Master Oogway said. "You have visitors."

"Visitors?" Fenghuang asked, wiping more tears from her face.

"Yes, a certain Jufeng was asking for you," Oogway said.

"Jufeng?" Fenghuang's purple eyes suddenly lit up. Before any of the two could do anything, Fenghuang simply jumped off her bed and flew out through her open window.

"But I thought he was dead," Ai Long said surprised, looking at her Master.

"Seems he is not," Master Oogway said. Then a certain gleam appeared in the Master's eyes. "But who knows?"

Ai Long tilted her head to the left, a little confused by the Master's comment. Following her Master, she suddenly found that her other teammates were hiding on the other side of the door.

"Guys, are you eavesdropping?!" Ai Long nearly growled.

"Sorry, but… We just couldn't help it!" Lumang growled back. "But whatever… the show's about to begin."

"What show?" Ai Long asked, but instaed of answering, Lumang simply left. Ai Long just followed, still asking him about it all. Shifu followed them shortly, but suddenly noticed the object that Fenghuang had thrown through the door: a gold-colored, wooden medallion. He recognized it… somehow. He didn't quite know how or where from, but he certainly did.

The red panda picked it up to examine it, but just as he touched it, he felt a chill run down his spine and instinctively he dropped it. Trying to understand what had just happened, Shifu stared at it for a while… Then he eventually decided that it was nothing and decided to leave it alone.

* * *

"Jufeng!" Fenghuang got the avian into a big hug, almost seemingly choking him.

"Fenghuang!" he said joyously. Suddenly Fenghuang let go of him and pulled back.

"What's up with your voice?" she asked, one eyebrow raised.

"Just caught a cold on my way here," he replied, coughing a little. Ai Long just stared, her head tilted to the left. She blinked her eyes a few times, getting somewhat of a fuzzy image of Jufeng. Suddenly she tried closing her left eye and almost gasped at what she saw, but remained silent.

After trying to switch between her two eyes, she realized it; it was an illusion! Somehow her right eye was able to see through it! She slowly moved over to Shifu by simply stepping aside with short steps.

"Why, is she talking to Yun?" Ai Long whispered, utterly confused.

"Yeah, she's-… what?!" Shifu's ears perked up.

"Then why's she calling him Jufeng?"

Shifu didn't quite know what to answer. Did this mean that Ai Long was able to see through the illusion of the Shift Stone?! How could she even do that? Was she born with some kind of special ability?

"How did you know?" Shifu asked in a whisper. He himself was only seeing Fenghuang hug a red-crowned crane.

"Well… I just do!" she whispered back.

"I'm sorry, but I will have to go now," Jufeng suddenly said, immediately getting a sad expression to spread across Fenghuang's face. "But! I will be staying in the village for a few days – so you can always- ack!"

Fenghuang had caught Yun in another hug, cutting him off. "Of course I will! I've missed you so much."

"I've missed you too, my friend," Yun said, trying to get his delusional wings to hug her as well.

"How did you know what he looked like?" Ai Long asked once the fake Jufeng had left.

Master Oogway simply chuckled a little, softly tapping his staff. Just then, Yun entered through a window, landing beside Fenghuang, asking if he had missed something.

Ai Long didn't quite understand her Master sometimes… but maybe it was best to not ask the question.

* * *

"So what do you think, honey? Isn't this a beautiful village?"

His wife shrugged. "I guess so… It seems fairly nice at least…"

The red crowned crane looked at her husband. "It seems like you made the right choice, Jufeng-Darling."


	9. Break Out, Blessed Wind! II

**A/N:** Hi guys! I am here with the second part of the little Fenghuang-ark. ;) I hope you'll like this. :3

* * *

Fenghuang woke up early – earlier than usual. She soundlessly got out of bed and jumped through the window of her room. As soon as she got through, she spread her wings and soundlessly glided through the air for a moment, then she flapped her wings once and got higher into the air.

Getting on top of the palace, she stayed there for a while, just soaring, looking down on the world. Her friend… her long lost friend… she had thought that he was dead, but now… now he had suddenly showed up in person.

Fenghuang was confused to say the least. That medallion… she had certainly recognized it. She had bought it from an old man and his young boy. The seller had told her that the medallion brought good luck and that it was a one-of-its-kind-type of medallion – onekindsly… whatever that meant.

Eventually Fenghuang started diving towards the village, soaring through the cool morning air. Soon enough she landed in the village and quickly started her search for her long-lost friend.

She started out by checking Mr. Ping's noodle shop, but it hadn't even opened yet, so she continued through the village. Suddenly Fenghuang remembered that there was a small hotel in the village. It wasn't quite big, but it did have a few rooms.

* * *

Shifu opened his eyes, then listened a bit. Was that… Wing beats? Master Oogway had already told him and the others that Fenghuang might be absent this day… but this early in the morning? Besides, where was she even going?

Shifu just sighed to himself and got out of bed – now that he was awake, there was really no reason for him to stay in bed. Making his way towards his door Shifu yawned. The morning bell above town hadn't even ringed yet, so this was earlier than usual.

* * *

Fenghuang had been certain of it; the medallion – it was certainly the one she had given Jufeng years ago. She had heard from the seller that it was unique! She _couldn't_ have been ripped off! And even then, did it matter?

* * *

Making his way into the hallway, Shifu suddenly saw the medallion from yesterday. He remembered what had happened the previous day… Yet, he felt himself be drawn towards the medallion.

Walking towards it, Shifu watched it from afar… It was seemingly made of wood, golden in color and had a symbol on it. Shifu knew it – he knew that it was supposedly able to cure diseases… and he knew that it was nothing but a fake.

* * *

Fenghuang eventually gave up – for a while only – seeing that no one was out yet and eventually she took off and landed on a rooftop. From there, she had a clear view over most of the village. This way, she might also be able to find Jufeng easier.

* * *

Shifu picked up the medallion again, this time though, he didn't feel a chill run down his spine. Examining it with his hand, Shifu eventually decided to leave it alone, letting it drop to the floor, as he knew exactly where he recognized it from.

Shifu looked at it once again, then walked over to Fenghuang's room. As expected, she had already left, so Shifu had no trouble walking inside and placing the medallion on the owl's bed.

Next Shifu decided to go eat some breakfast and get on with the day's training – being ahead of the others wouldn't hurt, after all.

* * *

Fenghuang had been waiting for quite a while, but finally she heard the morning bell of the village ring. Fenghuang jumped slightly, since she had almost fallen asleep due to the wait, but now she was completely awake. Looking around, Fenghuang saw that several villagers were coming out of their houses, though most of them were mainly workers, who went to work early.

Taking off, Fenghuang glided through the air above the village, looking around. Eventually Fenghuang's impatience got the best of her and she looked around for the place where the hotel was. Finally, she spotted it – at least if she remembered correctly.

Landing in the street in the designated area, she started to look around, trying to find Jufeng, or at least a place that seemed to be a hotel of some sort. Walking through the street, Fenghuang sighed to herself in frustration as she had failed to find Jufeng, even after fifteen minutes or so.

Just about to take off and return back home, someone suddenly called out her name, "Fenghuang!"

Fenghuang turned around and her heart felt as if it took ten meters into the sky as she saw Jufeng again. "Jufeng!"

Fenghuang hurried towards him and was surprised to find that he hugged her again.

"Oh, it's been so long, how are you?" The reunion was eventually interrupted by his wife clearing her throat. "Oh, sorry… This is my wife, Meihua."

"Hello, pleased to meet you," Fenghuang said, forcing up a smile. Suddenly something struck her. She turned to Jufeng and said, "You asked me how I was yesterday too… And yesterday, you said exactly the same – that it's been so long."

"Yesterday?" Jufeng asked confused. Examining the facial expression of the red-crowned crane, Fenghuang saw that he honestly didn't know what she was talking about.

But… How was this possible? The events of the day before… Those were too realistic to be a dream! Fenghuang no longer knew what to believe and what not to.

"What do you mean, yesterday?" Jufeng asked confused.

"But… You were… The palace…" Fenghuang was confused to say the least. "There was this eagle, he… he had the medallion I gave you!"

"Oh… So you've met him." Jufeng sighed and looked down shamefully for a moment.

"Who, darling?" Meihua asked. Obviously she didn't know either, which somewhat confused and surprised Fenghuang. Looking back over at Jufeng, Fenghuang barely recognized him. Never had she ever seen the red-crowned crane look as shameful as he did now. It hurt her to see her friend like this… if just there was something she could do.

"He… I just owe him a lot of money," Jufeng admitted, looking away from the two for a moment. "He helped me a few years ago."

"With what, if I may ask," Meihua asked, though signaling in her tone of voice that it was an order that Jufeng told her. Fenghuang immediately felt out of place in the situation and mostly, she wanted to leave.

"With... he helped me with some money," Jufeng admitted, sounding depressing almost.

"Money! How could you ask such a creep for money?" Fenghuang asked shocked. Jufeng looked down again and Fenghuang immediately felt bad for using such a tone.

"I… I did it for Meihua," Jufeng said, almost sounding apologetic. He turned to his wife. "How else would I afford our marriage and moving here?"

Thinking it over, Fenghuang figured that this meant that the couple would actually live in the Valley of Peace. This meant that she could see Jufeng again as much as she wanted to!

Meihua didn't answer, but simply looked at her husband with a blaming look in her eyes, but it was then eventually replaced with a sadder one. She looked away. "Oh, how could you? You're such a fool."

"But I am a fool for you," Jufeng said, which caused a smile to creep across Meihua's face. Just seeing and hearing the two together was… almost too much for Fenghuang.

"Is there anything I can do?" Fenghuang asked, rudely interrupting their moment. She shortly regretted it, but decided to ignore it.

"I don't think so… He'll just keep… Wait, you said you knew about him?" Jufeng asked, suddenly realizing it.

"Yes…"

"That means he's followed us here!" Jufeng looked horrified. "I thought he'd never track us here."

"I guess he just stalked you," Fenghuang said determinedly.

"Fenghuang, can I talk to you for a moment?" Jufeng suddenly asked. He then turned to his wife. "I'll be right back, darling."

Jufeng eventually led Fenghuang a little away. They continued down the street and as soon as they came to the next corner, they stopped. "Alright, first of all… I'm sorry."

"For what?" Fenghuang asked surprised. This was the least he'd expect.

"For what I did… back then," Jufeng said. "Don't you remember? I abandoned you before my marriage."

"Oh, that…"

"I'm sorry, I just… I just… I just hoped that you wouldn't take it heavily if you were mad at me," Jufeng said. "I was so foolish."

"What are you talking about?"

"My marriage with Meihua," Jufeng said, sounding frustrated. He looked down for a moment. Then he continued. "I just thought it would bother you."

"Well, if you had just told me before the marriage took place, it wouldn't have bothered me," Fenghuang said, suddenly feeling agitated somehow. She sighed. "Sorry, I just-…"

"No, I'm the one to apologize…" Jufeng said. "And now… Now I need you more than ever. I was hoping you'd help me with my current situation."

"Don't worry, I will," Fenghuang said, forcing up a smile. Jufeng suddenly caught her in a deep hug. At first she was surprised, but eventually she hugged him back.

"I… I think I'll just watch over you… so that I can strike if that eagle guy attacks again," Fenghuang said, breaking free of the hug.

"Thanks, I really appreciate it," Jufeng said with a smile. Fenghuang smiled back and eventually took off.

* * *

Fenghuang watched Jufeng and his wife from afar. She sat on top of a rooftop, keeping guard as she waited for something to happen – although it had already been four hours. But watching him with Meihua, Fenghuang actually couldn't help but grow slightly jealous. Just watching them walk around; her holding onto his wing; the way they would talk and laugh… Fenghuang simply couldn't help but miss her old life with Jufeng – their friendship.

Friendship… Had that really been all there was the whole time? At some points, Fenghuang had her doubts, yet why would the doubt even be there? Jufeng was her friend, now he was married, she was a part of the Furious Five and that was it. But still… watching Jufeng and Meihua together, made Fenghuang have her doubts.

"Why didn't you show up for training today?" Fenghuang almost fell off the rooftop at the sudden voice. She managed not to, but simply got up and turned around, getting into a defensive stance. "Ai Long is getting worried."

"Oh, it's just you," Fenghuang said, breathing heavily from the shock. Shifu just looked at her without speaking.

"So? Will you answer my question?" Shifu asked, walking over to sit down next to where Fenghuang stood. Fenghuang sat back down.

"I… It's complicated," Fenghuang sighed, leaning back, supporting herself with her wings against the roof.

"It's okay if you don't want to," Shifu said calmly.

"No, no, I'll try to explain," Fenghuang said, scooting herself slightly closer to Shifu. "Let's see… Well, some years ago, when I still lived at home, I had a good friend, named Jufeng… That guy over there."

Fenghuang pointed towards Jufeng with one of her wing feathers. "We were like, best friends, I guess… But now he's come here…"

"And that bothers you?" Shifu asked.

Fenghuang shook her head. "No… I was overjoyed to hear it… at least at first."

Shifu looked at the couple of red-crowned cranes, which were currently just strolling through the village. "Oh… like that."

"What?" Fenghuang asked.

"I think it's obvious enough," Shifu said calmly, though a sly expression crept across the red panda's face.

"What…?" Fenghuang looked down towards the two avians. She then saw Meihua softly nudge Jufeng. "Wait, you don't mean-?"

"You're jealous, aren't you?" Shifu asked, though he still retained that calm tone he had most of the time.

"I guess, kind of…" Fenghuang admitted. She sighed. "I mean… Just having a nice guy… Especially one like Jufeng, I mean, he's awesome! I just think it'd be nice."

Shifu couldn't help but chuckle a little. "Don't worry, your time will come."

And with these final words, Shifu got up and with a bunch of high leaps made his way back towards the palace again. Fenghuang looked back at the couple and sighed again.

Shifu was probably right, but… How would that chance ever come? She was at Jade Palace, and Fenghuang knew that her life would now be, or at least become, way too busy to maintain a relationship with someone outside.

But then again, Fenghuang thought to herself. She was only fourteen; she shouldn't bug her mind with things like this yet.

Suddenly Fenghuang looked into the sky and him them approaching. She was certain that it was the same eagle from yesterday… although… surprisingly, he was all alone this time. There was only one thing to do now!

* * *

"Jufeng, I think this would look lovely in our living room," Meihua said, talking about some beautiful carpets. Walking through the marketplace, the two were looking for stuff that they could use to decorate their new home. They hadn't had much stuff with them when they moved – only a few presents from their parents and some money that they had gotten as gifts for their wedding.

Jufeng was just about to agree when suddenly something fell from the sky and crashed into a wagon right outside the tailor shop. All of the customers, including the tailor and his workers, all jumped in surprise and some even ran out to see what had happened – Jufeng being one of them.

As soon as he exited the shop, he saw Fenghuang and the eagle, which he recognized as Shan, emerge from the broken wagon. Fenghuang jumped backwards as Shan tried to strike her with his talons. Fenghuang then leaped into the air, glided towards Shan and struck him with her wings while spinning around.

After it knocked Shan backwards, Fenghuang kept spinning and as soon as Shan got to his feet, she stopped and released a purple pulse of Chi towards him. As it knocked him backwards again, Fenghuang was about to continue, but suddenly she heard someone call her name.

Turning her head all the way around, she saw Ai Long and Shifu come running towards her. Once they reached her, they stopped. Fenghuang then noticed that the two had their personal weapons with them, but it seemed that Shifu had also brought Fenghuang's Wing Blades.

"Guys, what are you doing here?" Fenghuang asked.

"Obviously, we came to help," Shifu said calmly as he helped Fenghuang get her Wing Blades on.

"Shifu told me about it all," Ai Long bluntly blurted out.

"He what?!"

"I'm just saying that I'm here because I was worried about you," Ai Long said, immediately changing Fenghuang's mind. Just the tone alone was so convincing… Fenghuang immediately realized that her friend did care… and that they would have helped her if she had just asked.

Fenghuang immediately felt stupid; why hadn't she just asked for help?

"Aww," Fenghuang said happily. "But… what about Lumang and Yun?"

"Well, Lumang said he didn't 'feel like coming' and so Yun stayed with him," Ai Long said, scratching the back of her head. She was just about to continue, when suddenly something hit her, sending her flying backwards into a wall.

Before any of them could react, Shan grabbed Shifu by his throat with a talon, took off and smashed him against the nearest wall.

Fenghuang was fast to react. She quickly hit Shan in the back with her Wing Blades. In response, the eagle turned around and threw Shifu at her, knocking both of them back.

Just as he did, Ai Long jumped past the others, hitting Shan in the chest with a spin kick. It only knocked him a little back, but while she was still spinning, Ai Long managed to use her Ring to block another attack.

Using her Wind-and-Fire Ring to push Shan's wing away, then doing another standing spin kick, Ai Long hit him in the chest. As Shan fell back onto the destroyed wagon that he and Fenghuang had crashed into at first.

Just then, Shifu came charging from behind Ai Long, then jumped up and leaped off of her shoulders. Shifu did a front flip midair and finally hit Shan's cheek with a powerful kick, knocking out the eagle.

* * *

"Fenghuang, I'm so grateful to you and your friends," Jufeng said, hugging his owl friend. "Now that Shan's been sent to prison, Meihua and I have nothing to worry about!"

"I'm glad I could help," Fenghuang said and broke free of the hug, smiling. Shifu and Ai Long were just standing in the back, waiting patiently. Suddenly her smile faded. "However… I guess we'll have to say goodbye."

"Goodbye?" Ai Long asked surprised, wondering what Fenghuang was talking about.

"I can't be your friend anymore," Fenghuang said, sounding amazingly bitter, but also sad. She looked away.

"What, why not?" Jufeng asked shocked.

"Because…" She turned back towards Jufeng. "Because what you did was wrong. And… I'm sorry, but… I don't like the fact that I had to clean up your mess for you."

"But…"

"AND… I don't want you to take advantage of our old friendship… That's what you did… I have realized that just now… Jufeng… Goodbye," Fenghuang said bitterly and took off.

"That was unexpected," Ai Long said shocked, following Fenghuang with her eyes. She looked over at Jufeng shortly. Jufeng looked surprised, but he also looked very embarrassed – as if he really felt bad for what he had done. She then turned to Shifu. "Come on."

* * *

Ai Long carefully made her way down the hallway of the barracks. She knew that Fenghuang was most likely in her room. Upon entering spoken off room, Ai Long did find her friend. She was just sitting on her bed, looking out of the window.

"Hey," Ai Long said gently entering the room.

"Hey… where's Shifu?" Fenghuang asked.

"He decided to wait outside with Lumang and Yun," Ai Long explained. She then changed to a far gentler tone. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Fenghuang said.

"Even with all of that with Jufeng?"

The owl fell quiet for a moment. Eventually she nodded. "Yes, I guess you just have to let some friends go… And make new ones."

Fenghuang smiled at Ai Long and Ai Long immediately knew what she was hinting. Ai Long sat down on the bed next to Fenghuang. "You have the four of us now."  
"Yeah… And that's all I need right now."


	10. Who Are You?

**A/N:** Hi guys! I just want to get this out of the way: I'm going through something personal now, so my updates might not be as frequent as they used to. But I'll still do my best to update. :) I hope you'll like this chapter. :)

* * *

"Five noodle soups, here you go," Wu said with a smile as he placed the five bowls on the table. Shifu and the others thanked him, and as the individual members got their bowls, they started eating their lunch, not caring to wait for each other, which was a standard thing amongst the group.

When Wu was about to hand Fenghuang's bowl on her however, Ai Long took it in her hands and placed it in front of the young owl.

"Ai Long, I could have reached it myself," Fenghuang said in a teasing tone of voice.

Ai Long just chuckled and Shifu couldn't help but notice Ai Long's behavior. It had been like this for the past few days – ever since the incident with Fenghuang's old friend, Jufeng; the sixteen years old leopardess had been treating the fourteen years old owl like a younger sister.

Shifu found it somewhat odd – the thought of two Kung Fu Masters (When the Five would eventually become this) would act towards each other like that. Also, Shifu didn't understand Ai Long's need to act like this. She didn't only act this way towards Fenghuang; she had also acted like this towards the others, but she mostly did it towards Fenghuang as the owl was the youngest of the bunch.

Lumang, the oldest (One year older than Shifu), did think of this as stupid and idiotic, but that was mainly because of his personality. Shifu found it odd, but he didn't have anything against it as long as it didn't interfere with his training and pursuit of becoming a great Master.

Yun was the only one who genuinely seemed to like the care of the leopardess, but then again – he was the second-youngest.

* * *

"Students," Master Oogway said calmly as he stood in front of the five. It was afternoon and the Five had finished training. So now, to conclude a day of training, Master Oogway had a few last words for his students. "Before you leave, I have a question I would like you all to think about."

"How long do we get to think about it?" Yun asked – just to get it out of the way.

"You will have a day," Master Oogway said, smiling wisely and mysteriously at the Five. "The question I'd like to ask… Who are you?"

"Who we are?" Lumang asked with a raised eyebrow. "That's easy, we're the Furious…"

"Not who you are," Master Oogway said mysteriously. "I mean, who you are as an individual."

"I'm Lumang, who else?"

"Not who you are, but who you are." Shifu scratched his head and Ai Long tilted hers. What did the old tortoise mean with this? From a student's standpoint, there wasn't the least bit of logic involved in this.

But somehow they all – at least Fenghuang – knew that there was a deeper meaning behind the simple-sounding, yet complicated question. Fenghuang was already thinking about what she would reply to Oogway. Doing her best, she tried to think of something… He didn't want them to just say their name, but not that they were a part of the Furious Five either.

"I am... No… I am… I… I am…" Fenghuang practiced what to say in a mutter as she and the others exited the Training Hall.

"It makes no sense," Yun said, sounding naïve as ever. "Who we are? We are who we are!"

"I guess that's the point," Ai Long said. "He wanted to go all philosophical at us."

"But why?" Lumang asked it a groan.

"Because there is more to Kung Fu than the physical training," Shifu said.

"There is?" Yun asked surprised.

Shifu nodded. "I didn't get it at first either, but it's all in the mind."

"So… You know the answer to the question, don't you?"

"Well, I do have an idea," Shifu admitted. "But I won't tell you."

"Aww, why not?" Fenghuang asked.

"Because then you wouldn't learn anything," Shifu replied. This simply caused Fenghuang to quickly scoot over to him, putting her wing around his neck.

"Won't you please tell me, Shi-Shi?" she asked in the most annoying and pleading tone of voice possible.

Shifu just frowned at the sudden nickname. "No."

* * *

"What do you think the answer is?" Ai Long asked Fenghuang. The two were training outside on the palace's courtyard with wooden staffs. Just because their primary weapons were Wind-and-Fire Wheels and Wing Blades, this didn't mean that they (Or the others for that matter) had to have obligated training with each other's weapons.

"I don't think there are right and wrong answers," Fenghuang said, thinking deeply. She jumped towards Ai Long, smashing her staff towards the leopardess, but she dodged. "And judging from yesterday, I don't think Shi-Shi will be any help."

"Shi-Shi?" Ai Long asked confused as she charged Fenghuang with a counter attack, which was blocked by Fenghuang.

"Cute, isn't it?" Fenghuang chuckled and made another attempt to attack. "It's a nickname I made up for Shifu."

"Oh, just like 'Fenghy'," Ai Long chuckled and blocked another attack.

"No, not like… that," Fenghuang said, somewhat annoyed and still not amused by the nickname. The two continued their training for a while. The 'game' that they were playing would end when one touched the opponent's body with their staff.

Ai Long decided to aim lower, but Fenghuang jumped into the air and stayed there. "Hey, no flying!"

"What, I need to learn how to fight while I fly too," Fenghuang said innocently as she took her staff in her talons instead.

"Alright, fine, Fenghy," Ai Long said, twirling the staff around in her palm. Ai long jumped forwards, but Fenghuang simply flapped her wings once and got higher into the air. "But what about we say there's a catch?"

"A catch?" Fenghuang turned around and struck, but her attack was dodged by Ai Long.

"Yeah, what about we say the loser gives a bowl of noodles?" Ai Long asked and charged Fenghuang, who simply moved aside, staying in the air.

"Fine with me!" Ai Long quickly turned around and blocked another attack from Fenghuang. Fenghuang eventually threw her staff towards Ai Long, who deflected it, making it fly into the air.

Fenghuang landed back on the ground and charged Ai Long with no weapon, eventually dodging the incoming attacks as well as she could, until she finally caught her staff as it came back down.

Fenghuang turned around and was just about to strike, but was suddenly hit in the chest by the end of Ai Long's staff.

"I won!" Ai Long exclaimed happily. "Guess you owe me a bowl of noodles!"

"Ugh, fine," Fenghuang said, rolling her eyes. "Or…?"

"Or what?"

"Best out of three?" Fenghuang asked, a sly expression creeping onto her face.

* * *

"I still won!" Ai Long cheered happily as the two made their way down the staircase towards the village.

"Yes, that's beautiful, princess," Fenghuang grumbled.

"Don't be mad," Ai Long teased with a giggle. "You sound just like my brother."

"Your brother?" Fenghuang asked. The Five had actually never talked much about their families, except for Fenghuang, whose father had visited. "I didn't know you had any siblings."

"Well, I do have a few," Ai Long chuckled. "There's my brother, he's one year older than me, and I actually took his place."

"Took his place; here?" Fenghuang asked, immediately worried. "Why?"

"Mostly because he suddenly found a girl he wanted to marry," Ai Long explained in a somewhat dreamy tone of voice. "And so, here I am. He's actually pretty good at Kung Fu, so maybe it would have been better if he…"

"What are you talking about?" Fenghuang interrupted her friend. "You're a great fighter!"

"I guess it's alright," Ai Long said. "Still, not as good as my brother though."

"Anyway, you said you had more siblings?" Fenghuang asked, just to change the subject up a little.

"Yeah, there are my two older sisters, my younger brother and my younger sister."

"Wow, you have quite a big family, haven't you?" Fenghuang asked surprised. That made a total of five children!

"What about you?" Ai Long asked Fenghuang with a chuckle.

"Well, I have two older siblings – a brother and a sister, but they've all moved out, so… yeah, usually it's just me and dad," Fenghuang replied. She sighed. "My mom left us years ago… It was because of my dad, as you might understand – he's so controlling."

Ai Long just fell quiet and didn't say anything. "Well… I'm sorry to hear that."

"Nah, it's fine," Fenghuang said. "Anyway, do you think Shifu has a family?"

"Of course," Ai Long said. She then looked at Fenghuang, a little unsure of her own answer. "Why, don't you?"

"Well…" Fenghuang thought back on the previous night.

* * *

_"Fenghuang, can I talk to you?" Shifu asked. The two were in the hallway between the two rows of rooms._

_"Yeah, sure," Fenghuang said. Shifu was standing outside the door to her room and she signaled for him to come inside. Entering her room, Shifu just stood in the center of it while Fenghuang sat down on her bed. "So, what is it?"_

_"This," Shifu said. He suddenly held up the wooden medallion that Fenghuang had given to Jufeng long ago._

_"Oh, that," Fenghuang said. "I was actually going to throw it away, but I gave it to Ju-…"_

_"No, no," Shifu said, interrupting her, since that obviously wasn't what he wanted to hear. "I wanted to know: where do you have it from?"_

_"Where I…? I bought it from an old man long ago," Fenghuang said. "He just traveled around selling these things. He stated that they could cure diseases, but… Obviously they couldn't."_

_Shifu looked at the medallion in his hand. He turned it around to see that some of the golden paint had been slightly scratched off, though most of it seemed to be from the sheer age of the cheap paint._

_"Why do you ask?" Fenghuang asked after a few seconds of Shifu staring at the medallion._

_"… Nothing." Shifu acted so mysterious that Fenghuang started feeling worried somehow. She didn't know what was going on, but if he'd just tell her… "I just… It just reminded me of someone… That is all."_

_"Are you sure?" Fenghuang asked._

_"Yes, all sure," Shifu said. "Goodnight."_

_"Goodnight, Shifu."_

* * *

"Strange," Ai Long said.

"I know," Fenghuang said. "It seemed like he knew it, but then again – he didn't say anything else!"

"And he said that it reminded him of someone?" Ai Long asked. Fenghuang nodded. "Maybe he knew the guy who sold you this?"

Fenghuang shrugged. "Or maybe he knew someone who owned a similar medallion?"

The two girls continued for a while without talking. The thing with the medallion still appeared strange to Fenghuang and she couldn't help but wonder what connection Shifu might have had to it – or whatever else the case was.

"Wait, do you think that maybe Shifu knew the guy who sold you this?" Ai Long asked as they continued down the stairs. "After all, he said that it reminded him of someone – the medallion, I mean."

"I doubt it," Fenghuang said. "How would he? The man I bought it from was some old man."

Ai Long just shrugged and soon the two reached the end of the staircase. The duo immediately headed for Mr. Ping's noodle shop. As always the restaurant was fairly crowded, but the two girls did manage to get a table for themselves.

Ai Long and Fenghuang quickly ordered some food, and of course Ai Long just 'happened' to order what was the most expensive, much to Fenghuang's annoyance.

However, her father had left her with some extra 'allowance' before he traveled home, so it wasn't because Fenghuang had any economic problems; she simply got annoyed by the fact that Ai Long wanted the most expensive dish in the restaurant (Although the prices weren't very outrageous).

"Actually, I was wondering something," Ai Long suddenly said.

"Hmm?"

"How is it to be able to fly?" Ai Long asked. She then gave of a dreamy sigh. "I bet it's amazing."

"Well, when it's a natural thing for you since you were born, I guess it's not that big of a deal," Fenghuang chuckled. "But yeah, it is pretty cool to be able to fly. But you can do other things that I can't."

"Like?"

"Like run fast," Fenghuang said. "My legs can't allow me to do that."

"But that's nothing compared to flying," Ai Long said, scratching the back of her head. "Your legs don't get sore…"

"Your wings get sore – I kind of believe that's worse."

"And there's nothing that stands in your way," Ai Long continued dreamingly. "You can just fly over it!"

Soon their food arrived and the two started eating, deciding to let the conversation rest for a bit. Looking at Ai Long, Fenghuang could clearly see that the leopardess was enjoying her food. She'd better, Fenghuang thought somewhat bitterly. Either way, Fenghuang also enjoyed her food.

Suddenly Fenghuang saw Lumang enter, Yun sitting on his shoulder. Fenghuang was a little surprised, but she figured that the two had been training till now – or maybe Lumang had skipped training and Yun had joined him.

"Hey, guys, what's up?" Yun asked and jumped off of Lumang's shoulder, landing on the chair next to Ai Long.

"Not much…"

"I just won a bet and got free noodles," Ai Long chuckled, much to Fenghuang's annoyance.

"Oh-ho, how?" Lumang asked, snickering.

"I just won over her two out of three times in a staff match," Ai Long chuckled. She then asked, "What about you guys?"

"Well, we've been trying to figure out Master Oogway's question," Yun groaned. "I don't understand!"

"Ugh, we totally forgot!" Ai Long realized shocked. She and Fenghuang had been too caught up in their bet that they forgot to reflect over the question – at least in Ai Long's mind.

"What are you talking about?" Fenghuang chuckled. "I have my answer!"

"You do?" Ai Long asked surprised. "What is it?"

"No, no, no need to change the subject," Fenghuang teased her.

"Fenghy!"

"Fenghy?" Lumang and Yun asked in unison, their voices sounding both surprised and amused. Just then the two started laughing.

Fenghuang tapped her wing feathers on the table, slightly annoyed. Then she smiled. She quickly fished up the money from one of her pockets and placed the money for her and Ai Long's food.

With a devilish smile she got up and said, "Oh well, then I won't share my answer with any of you."

"Haha… Wait, what?" Just as Lumang realized this he and Yun stopped laughing, but Fenghuang eventually took off and headed towards the palace, ignoring the two boys' pleading. "Oh, and Ai Long? Flying is freaking awesome!"

* * *

"So, have you all thought about my question?" Master Oogway asked calmly. The Five had all rejoined back at the palace and Shifu could clearly tell that the others hadn't thought much about it, given their somewhat nervous expressions – except for Fenghuang.

"Lumang?" Master Oogway asked the elephant. "Who are you?"

"I am… I am… I am… Lumang?" Lumang replied, not even sure if it was a proper answer. Oogway said nothing; he simply looked over at Ai Long instead.

"I… am Ai Long…" Fenghuang simply raised an eyebrow at the fact that Ai Long was answering the same as Lumang. But eventually Yun answered the same – his name.

Finally Master Oogway came to Fenghuang and asked her. Feeling the need to say something different – and also having an answer on her own – Fenghuang said, "Me… I am the sister of Ai Long – by spirit."

Master Oogway looked somewhat surprised and without looking at her, Fenghuang was certain that Ai Long did as well. But eventually the old tortoise nodded and went on to Shifu.

"And who are you, Shifu?" Master Oogway asked the red panda slowly.

"I am Shifu," Shifu said, much to Fenghuang's surprise. Fenghuang had expected some kind of deep, philosophical answer, but… He answered the same as Lumang, Yun and Ai Long!

At first Fenghuang was annoyed, but then she felt stupid for being the only one who had seemingly thought too much about the question.

Master Oogway slowly walked up so that he stood in front of the Five. He then looked at each one of them, being so slow that it almost wrecked the Five's nerves. He then spoke. "Very well… It seems that you have all understood the question. You have all passed – you may go now."

"But… We just said our names," Yun said confused once Master Oogway had left the Five.

"And he told us not to," Lumang said. "Maybe Oogway is just a crazy old turtle."

"Tortoise," Shifu corrected him, but Lumang ignored him.

"Also, how come you answered the same, panda?" Lumang asked, confused. "You said you already had a feeling about what the answer was… Did you know this all along?"

"Of course," Shifu asked. "Didn't you get it?"

"Get what?"

"All we had to know was who we are," Shifu said mysteriously. "Yun actually knew the answer all along."

"I did?" Yun asked confused.

Shifu nodded, smiling faintly. "As you said; we are who we are."

"Yay, I'm smart!" Yun said happily and exited the Training Hall alongside Lumang. Shifu left as well, leaving Fenghuang and Ai Long alone.

"Aww, that was so cute!" Ai Long squealed and caught Fenghuang in a hug. "Thank you Fenghy!"

"Just don't call me that," Fenghuang said, but Ai Long ignored it – of course.


	11. Thanks a Cluck

"Yun, I have a special task for you," Master Oogway said, leading the rooster a little away from the others. They were all outside, training as usual and the others just continued as Master Oogway had a word with Yun.

"What is it, Master?" Yun asked surprised.

"A certain little boy came to me and asked me if you would like to go with him and his family to a nearby village," Master Oogway explained. "This youngster seemed especially happy and he seemingly hoped that you would."

"Sure, I will," Yun said, smiling. "But who was he?"

"He said his name was Xiao and that you would know," Master Oogway said, chuckling. Yun immediately realized that he hadn't talked to Xiao in a long time – although it was actually only a few days.

"Xiao?" Yun asked surprised. "When… when are they leaving?"

"They told me they would leave as soon as they had gotten an answer from you," Master Oogway said. "So I take it you want to help?"

"Of course, Master," Yun said, bowing quickly. "I should get going."

Master Oogway nodded and sent the young rooster a quick smile before the latter left for the barracks to quickly pack some stuff before leaving.

Entering his room, Yun found a green shoulder bag, similar to the one that Lumang had had when he was bringing the Crescent Pendant to the Artisan Village.

Shrugging, Yun put it on, then quickly packed some stuff. He didn't bring much; only some money, some extra clothes and a paper to write a letter in case it became necessary.

Finally ready, Yun used his wings to somewhat awkwardly fly towards the gate that led to the village. Yun then used his wings to glide down. In a way, he did envy Fenghuang; her wings were naturally bigger and more suited for flying. All that Yun could really do with his wings was gliding. When he'd try to fly, it'd just look really silly and be incredibly ineffective.

Before Yun landed in the village he decided to position himself more horizontally so that he would be gliding above the village and be able to land outside Xiao's home and make 'an entrance'.

Finally spotting Mr. Shan's Mailing Service below him and prepared for a landing. Slowly descending, Yun eventually landed right outside the door. There he found that Xiao and the young rabbit's mother were prepared to travel. They seemingly had a big carriage with their stuff ready.

"Hi, everyone!" Yun said cheerfully when he landed in front of them, surprisingly gracefully.

"Yun, you came!" Xiao said happily, hugging the young rooster. He quickly let go again and started babbling about how much he looked forwards to seeing his uncle and aunt again.

"I believe you should save that for the journey," Mrs. Shan chuckled. She then turned to Yun. "You do know that this'll be a somewhat long trip, don't you?"

Yun nodded, smiling. "Yes, of course."

"And you do realize that it'll be about two days before we get back?"

"Wha-, I mean yes," Yun said. In reality, Yun hadn't actually realized this, but he didn't want to look stupid. Besides, he had agreed to come along, so now he'd finish the job!

"Yun, can I have a short word with you?" Mr. Shan asked as he emerged from the door to the mailing agency.

"Sure, of course," Yun said, a little nervous for whatever it might be.

"You see, I wanted you to go along… mainly because I am stuck here," Mr. Shan explained as he led Yun a little away from his wife and son. "I cannot just leave my agency, so I needed a man to watch over my wife and son."

"Of course, of course," Yun said; he was unable to keep from smiling after Mr. Shan referred to him as 'man'. "But… do you also expect me to pull the wagon?"

Mr. Shan simply chuckled at Yun's question. "No, of course not – we have someone hired to do so."

"But why did I have to come along then?" Yun wondered.

"A strong warrior is a strong warrior; a warrior who knows Kung Fu is even stronger." Mr. Shan smiled at Yun. "Also, I do believe my son would feel a lot safer with you after what you did for him."

"Yeah, I guess," Yun said, suddenly remembering everything. "How has he been doing since then?"

"Xiao has been fine; he's started getting more friends again," Mr. Shan said, adding, "Thanks to you."

* * *

Soon the three were off. The one who was pulling the carriage was a boar, pretty big and strong-looking, just as Yun had expected. However, Mr. Shan had said that Yun shouldn't expect much from him, since he was apparently a coward.

But none the less, Yun knew that he was ready in case something happened. Even so, Mr. Shan had said that he didn't quite expect them to get attacked constantly, but he had had Yun go with them just to be safe.

And soon the group had left the village. Mrs. Shan was sitting atop the carriage along with the stuff that she and Xiao had brought as well as Yun's bag. Yun was walking beside the carriage with Xiao, talking.

Xiao was mainly talking about how most of the Shan family lived in this other village and how long it had been since Xiao had seen them. Now and then Mrs. Shan would also join in on the conversation, but the guy who pulled the carriage remained silent all along.

"So exactly where is this village, Mrs.?" Yun asked as the group came to a forest.

"We need to go beyond these woods," Mrs. Shan replied with a smile as the treetops blocked the sunlight above, casting shades over the group. "Then we just follow a river and we should be there by nightfall, hopefully."

"You're going to love it," Xiao said excitedly. "The village has the river running all the way through it and…"

"Dear Xiao, so does the village back at home," Mrs. Shan chuckled, but her son ignored this comment.

"And my aunt is so good at cooking!" Yun just chuckled at the young rabbit's excitement. "You're going to love her soup – it's almost as good as Mr. Ping's!"

"Haha, I'll be looking forwards to that then," Yun chuckled. The group continued onwards… and Xiao kept talking. After a while, it was slowly starting to grow more and more annoying – not only to Mrs. Shan and the boar who was pulling the carriage, but also to Yun.

Usually Yun was very easygoing and it'd usually take quite a bit to get him annoyed, but… Xiao was just speaking with no end! Halfway through the forest, Yun lost focus and didn't even pay attention anymore.

Finally the group was out of the forest, and just like Mrs. Shan had described, Yun saw a river flowing by. As the group continued, Yun suddenly spotted a group of people walking towards them.

Looking back as well, Yun saw that there were also some people behind them. Yun of course grew somewhat suspicious right away. Yun immediately told Xiao to climb onto the carriage and Yun himself started walking closer to it.

"We might have to fight," Yun whispered to the boar that pulled the carriage.

"Hey, don't expect me to fight," he said, almost sounding insulted. "I'm just here to pull the carriage."

"But you seem so strong," Yun said. "I'm sure you could land a good punch."

But before the boar replied, the carriage reached the people approaching from the front. As they blocked their way, Yun stepped forwards. They were three avians – a falcon, a hawk and a vulture.

From behind came a band of more avians and Yun immediately mentally prepared himself for a battle.

"Who are you?" Yun asked, stepping forwards, trying his best to sound brave.

"No one in particular," the falcon said and took one step closer. Suddenly Yun recognized them.

"Wait, you guys were with him… that guy who was after… what was his name…? something-Feng," Yun said, not quite remembering

"With Shan?" the vulture asked. Yun nodded, keeping up his guard. "We ditched that coward."

"So why are you here?" Yun asked with one eyebrow raised.

"We're here to do some business ourselves," the hawk said. Suddenly he took off and charged Yun. Fortunately Yun reacted.

Yun took one step backwards, then jumped into the air as well, keeping himself somewhat airborne with his wings. "Feet of Fury!"

While midair, Yun rapidly kicked his attacker, hitting several times, then finally knocking him backwards. Shortly after the vulture charged in on Yun and so did the people behind Yun.

Yun swiftly jumped aside, almost causing the two avians to collide midair. Yun jumped onto the carriage, grabbed his sword from the bag he had brought and landed back on the ground again.

"Blade Edge Slasher." Yun swirled his sword around for a bit, then held it backhand style as the avians approached again. As a hawk came into reach, Yun quickly slashed him away with the wooden blade of his Straight-Sword.

Spinning around in a circle, Yun managed to hit two bandits in a row with one slash. Yun then jumped into the air and kicked one of them, then slashed the other one again as he flew backwards.

Yun swirled his sword around in his wing, then told the boar who was pulling the carriage to keep going. "I'll take care of everything here; get Mrs. Shan and Yun to the village."

Without hesitation, the boar quickly pulled the carriage as fast as he could and Yun continued the battle against the avian bandits.

Yun had to admit that they weren't the most skilled fighters as the rooster easily managed to block and dodge all their attempts to attack.

"Why are you even fighting us?" the falcon asked as he attacked Yun with his talons. "You're an avian just like us – why not join us?"

"Because I'm against what guys like you do," Yun said and dodged an attacking stork. Yun the kicked the attacker away and blocked a talon attack from the falcon. "I fight for justice!"

"A shame," the falcon said, jumping backwards. "You're quite the swordsman."

"I know," Yun said. "Now have a taste of my blade!"

Yun let the wooden blade slide against the palm of his left wing, then charged in on the falcon, this time holding his sword regularly. Yun bucked and dodged a punch, then jumped into the air and slashed downwards as he neared the ground.

As the vulture from earlier charged Yun from above, Yun swirled his sword around in his wing. "Sheer Wind Slasher!" Yun then threw his Straight-Sword towards the attacking avian. The thrown sword spun around at high speed and it didn't even look like a sword, but rather like a wheel of destruction.

Successfully it hit, knocking out the vulture. Yun then turned around and was faced with the falcon and an owl. As they attacked Yun, he quickly got into a defensive stance and when they finally tried to strike, he blocked with his wings.

Yun then jumped backwards, then spread out his wings and stayed midair. He then pulled his wings back and prepared to flap them harder than ever before. Yun had tried to learn this technique for quite some time and now seemed like a good chance to get it right: Wings of Justice.

Yun finally flapped his wings once, releasing a powerful gust that knocked his attackers backwards – even causing them to fall onto the ground. At first Yun was very surprised with the end result, but nonetheless happy and proud of himself.

"Fancy technique." Yun turned around, just in time to dodge his own sword being swung towards him. "But you dropped this!"

As the falcon slashed again, Yun dodged. The falcon proceeded to slash him more, but Yun dodged each time, which he could tell annoyed the falcon.

Finally when the falcon held the sword above his head, about to slash vertically downwards, Yun spun around in a circle and punched him in the face knocking him out.

"No one tries to kill me with my sword," Yun almost chuckled. He turned around, ready to fight, but found that the other bandits had fled.

* * *

A lone Yun entered the village that had been their destination all along. The sun had completely set in the sky and in the village several lanterns were lit as Yun entered.

Great, how was he supposed to find Xiao and his mom now? The village seemed fairly large, so Yun had no idea about where to look for them. The village did look nice though – just like Yun had described it.

Suddenly Yun spotted the carriage outside a house and figured that was where the family was at. Walking up to the door, Yun knocked it and soon it was opened. The one who opened was a rabbit, who seemed somewhat surprised to see Yun – at least his sword.

"Hey, hey, relax," Yun quickly said, trying to calm the rabbit down before she freaked out. "I'm here… I'm with Mrs. Shan and little Xiao… At least if I've come to the right place."

"Oh, so you're Yun?" she asked with a smile, completely forgetting the fact that Yun was carrying a sword. Yun nodded. "Well, come inside then!"

Yun chuckled happily and followed the rabbit inside, closing the door behind him.

Upon entering, Yun found a fairly big family of rabbits gathered in the living room. Looking around, he eventually spotted Xiao and his mother. Upon seeing the rooster as well, Xiao immediately got up and rushed over to him.

"Yun, you made it!" Xiao said happily.

"Yeah, of course!" Yun said, supporting himself by his sword. "Those guys weren't that hard to defeat."

Suddenly the other children at the party noticed that Yun was carrying a sword and immediately joined Xiao and before Yun knew it, countless questions were hailed down on him.

"Children, please," an adult rabbit said, gently making his way through the group of children. "Our guest is probably tired; you should let him have some peace."

"Haha, nah it's fine," Yun said.

"So you are Yun," the rabbit said. He had brown fur and wore some navy robes with black trims. "I have heard great things about you."

"You have?"

"Most certainly," the rabbit said with a smile. "My name is Heng, welcome to He Guo Village. It is an honor to have you here."

"Wow, thanks," Yun said, truly overwhelmed with all this praise he was getting. "I'm honored to be here as well."

Heng just chuckled and asked Yun to join them. Yun thanked yes and soon he found that Xiao hadn't exaggerated when he had talked about his aunt's noodle soup; it was almost as good as Mr. Pings – if not better!

"Wow, this is really good," Yun said surprised. The aunt simply chuckled as she watched Yun eat more and Xiao then began to tell the others about Yun and how he had helped him some days ago.

Yun couldn't say that he didn't like the attention. He was trying his best not to smile too widely and he answered every time someone had a question for him. Whether it was about him or about the battles he had fought, Yun gladly answered.

The guy who had pulled the carriage was also there, although sitting a little by himself, keeping a low profile. Yun just smiled at him as the 'party' went on. Soon the family members started mentioning jokes and experiences that only they would know and soon the living room was filled with laughter.

No, Yun couldn't say he didn't like this.

* * *

Finally Yun was on his way up the staircase to the palace. He and the others had just arrived in the village and he was tired – they had gone to sleep late and left early in the morning!

The reunion with Mr. Shan had been kind of short and Yun had quickly left. It hadn't been meant to seem so rude, but Yun had just been tired. But at least now he was home.

"Hey, Yun!" Yun turned around and was surprised to see Lumang. Just like Yun, Lumang was carrying a shoulder bag.

"Lumang, what are you doing here?" Yun asked surprised.

"Long story," Lumang said, scratching the back of his head. "But tell you what; my Oblivion Quake has gotten a new quake."

* * *

**A/N: **And so I bring you another Yun chapter. ;) Just another filler, really, but kind of fun to write nonetheless. :) Next chapter we'll see what Lumang's been up to. ;) I hope you liked this chapter. :3


	12. Strength of the Earth

**A/N:** Hi guys! It's been a while hasn't it? Sorry about that, but I've been busy with exams and haven't really had time for writing. :/ SO anyway, in this chapter I will start introducing new moves, like Wings of Justice, which Yun used last time. ;) These techniques will become main-stays of this series, but soon this story will be put on-hold. Wait, wait, wait, before you assasinate me, let me explain. If we view this story as a tv-series, I will have a 'movie' prepared for this, so to speak. Yes, it will be a somewhat short story of between five and ten chapters, maybe more, which will have an actual consistent plot all the way through! :D So I hope you like this idea. :) So until next update, see ya'! ^^

* * *

"Master, can I talk to you for a second?" Lumang asked Master Oogway. The old tortoise simply nodded. The two were in the Hall of Warriors, Oogway looking through some of the Thousand Scrolls of Kung Fu.

"What is it, Lumang?" Oogway asked, turning to the elephant.

"I had just been wondering lately… Those 'fancy' Chi techniques that Fenghuang uses…" Lumang started. After a few seconds, he finished. "Is there any way for the rest of us to learn them?"

"The Thundering Wind-Hammer?" Master Oogway asked. Lumang nodded. "I am afraid that I won't be able to teach you such an advanced technique. Lumang sighed and was just about to leave, but was stopped by Oogway. "But… I believe I know someone who might."

"You do?" Lumang asked surprised.

Master Oogway quietly nodded. "His name is Master Dao – I am expecting him, so he could teach you something while he's here."

"Really?" Lumang asked surprised. "That'd be perfect! Thanks, Master!"

Oogway simply chuckled to himself as Lumang exited the door. A lot could be said about the elephant, but Oogway was impressed with how eager he was to learn Chi techniques.

* * *

"Master Oogway, it is a pleasure to see you again," the lion said. He seemed to be about thirty or so in Lumang's eyes. He was covered in light brown fur all over with a dark brown, almost crimson mane. The robes he wore were mainly red with some yellowish trims.

"It is to see you as well," Master Oogway said with a smile. "Tell me, how have you been?"

"I have been doing fine," Master Dao said with a smile. His face then changed to a more concerned one. "I have had a bit of trouble with a gang of bandits though. They have continuously attacked the village, but I finally think I've taught them a thing or two about that kind of stuff."

"I hope so," Master Oogway said. After all, if the gang would attack again now that Dao wasn't in the village, they'd easily be able to do what they wanted since Master Dao wasn't present.

"I do believe that my two students will be able to keep the village safe though," Master Dao said in a reassuring tone of voice.

"Let us hope so," Master Oogway said calmly. "Now, I would like to introduce my students."

The two Masters then left the gate of the palace and walked towards the Training Hall. On the way, Oogway explained just how the five students were all very remarkable. Master Oogway also explained how he had high hopes for them and how he might have one of them train with Master Dao.

"With me?" Master Dao asked surprised.

"Not for long, just until he has mastered the use of Chi," Master Oogway explained.

"So he has problems with that?" Dao asked.

Oogway nodded. "He is the type that focusses more on physical combat."

Dao nodded slowly, understanding. Dao himself had never been a big fan of going head to head into a rough battle. No the middle-aged lion preferred to use Chi techniques against his opponents. Therefore Dao's Master title had been obtained thanks to these techniques alone.

Upon entering the Training Hall, the two Masters found Yun training with his sword. It was surprising for Master Oogway to only see Yun there, but still a pleasure to see a student devoted to his training.

"Master Dao, I would like you to meet Yun," Master Oogway said as they walked towards the young rooster. Yun looked up and was surprised to see an unfamiliar face.

"My, my, what a devoted student," Master Dao said with a smile.

"Who, me? I mean, of course, of course," Yun corrected himself, making Master Oogway smile. "But if you want to see devotion, take a look at Shifu. Nice to meet you though."

"You too," Master Dao said with a smile. The two Masters then left Yun to do his training. On the way out, the two met Ai Long and Fenghuang as the two were about to enter the Training Hall as well.

"This is Ai Long and Fenghuang," Master Oogway quickly introduced the two, who bowed to the Master. "Fenghuang is especially skilled with Chi – she has already mastered the Thundering Wind-Hammer."

"My, my," Master Dao said impressed. "And at such a young age… Quite impressive."

"I don't know if it's impressive," Fenghuang said somewhat shyly.

"Aww, come on, Fenghy – it is," Ai Long chuckled happily.

"It takes years to master that technique for some – others never learn it at all," Master Dao said. "It takes great self-control."

Master Dao then walked a little away from the others, did a spin around his own axis once or twice, then released a wave of golden Chi energy from his hand. Fenghuang was especially impressed; she had to spin a lot more to build up that much Chi energy!

"But it was nice meeting you both," Dao said, chuckling at the girls' amazed faces. Master Dao and Oogway eventually continued and soon met Shifu who was training on the palace's courtyard.

Master Dao and Oogway stopped to watch the red panda for a while as he performed a long series of kicks and punches. Due to Dao not being exactly a big fan of physical combat, he wasn't quite as impressed as Shifu had hoped he'd be.

Shifu then noticed the two and stopped his training, turning to the two.

"This is Shifu," Master Oogway introduced Shifu, who bowed to the Master, who bowed in return. "You remember Shifu don't you?"

"I certainly do," Dao said with a smile. Due to this being one of many visits to the Jade Palace, Dao and Shifu had met each other before. "How are you Shifu?"

"I'm doing well," Shifu said with a smile.

"I hope the new students haven't caused too much trouble," Dao said with a smile.

"Hehe, well, at first, a little," Shifu admitted, scratching the back of his head. "But everything is fine now."

"That's good to hear," Dao said with a smile. "Just remember that you're all a team."

"Of course," Shifu said, bowing to the Master. Leaving Shifu, Oogway and Dao eventually found Lumang. The elephant was training with his sword by the Peachtree of Heavenly Wisdom.

"And you must be Lumang," Dao said, getting the elephant's attention.

Lumang turned around, facing the Master. Lumang had never seen him before, but he supposed that it was the Master that Oogway had been talking about. "I am."

"My name is Dao," the Master introduced himself. "I have come to teach you about Chi techniques."

"You have?" Lumang asked. He quickly bowed. "Please teach me."

"What a well-behaving student you have, Master," Dao told Oogway at which the old tortoise simply chuckled.

"I will leave you two for now," Master Oogway said calmly and left. Lumang was excited; finally he could learn a cool Chi Move, just like Fenghuang!

"Alright, first things first," Dao said calmly. Lumang stood up, his arms behind his back. "How much experience have you had with Chi Moves?"

"Not really any at all, unfortunately," Lumang informed the older Master.

"I see… First, you need to learn how to build it up," Dao explained in a lecturing tone of voice. "You do so by…"

"…spinning around in circles?" Lumang asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Eh… not quite," Master Dao said, scratching his mane slightly. "Wait, are you referring to the Thundering Wind Hammer?" Lumang nodded calmly. "Oh… Well, I'm sorry, but I cannot teach you that technique."

"Why not?" Lumang wondered.

Master Dao then spun around in circles for some time, then stretched out his arm, sending a wave of green light out through his hand. The wave spread like a thin steam and was blown away by the wind.

"Because," Dao said in the same teacher-sounding voice. "As you just saw, even with many years of experience, it is a hard technique to Master – and even harder to teach."

"But Shifu taught Fenghuang how to do it in five minutes," Lumang pointed out and crossed his arms.

Dao tilted his head slightly. "He did?" Lumang nodded. "In that case, Fenghuang must be incredibly talented."

"I guess," Lumang said with a shrug. "For a fourteen years old owlet, I guess."

"Oh well, let's begin," master Dao said, shrugging off the sidetrack. He then instructed Lumang to take on a series on stances. As he did, the elephant did suddenly feel energized – as if all the blood in his body had just gotten replaced with some entirely new blood! He had never felt so powerful!

"Alright now release it," Dao instructed, letting an aurora-like beam emit from his hand. However, when Lumang tried the same, it seemed to backfire somehow; suddenly he was knocked backwards and landed on the ground.

"Why didn't it work?" Lumang asked. He had done exactly what the Master had done before him… so why hadn't it worked?!

"In order to master Chi Techniques, one must also master self-control," Master Dao replied calmly.

"Self-control?" Lumang asked. According to Lumang himself, he did have control over it. Heck, who didn't have control over themselves?

"Yes, self-control," Master Dao repeated. "Let's try it again."

* * *

"I'm starting to think that it isn't a question about self-control," Lumang said. He had been training with Dao for about an hour now. Lumang had tried to do the Chi technique countless times, but it had kept backfiring.

"Now, now, not so pessimistic," Dao said, trying to encourage Lumang. Lumang sighed and repeated the poses to build up Chi. Dao observed him more closely than he had during his previous tries. Yes, he did seem to perform the poses perfectly… Lumang then performed the finishing pose, which would usually send the Chi out from the user's hand.

But instead, he was forced backwards somehow. But once the elephant landed on the ground, Dao noticed something; when Lumang landed, as soon as his hand touched the ground, a thin layer of energy spread across the ground near him.

"Interesting," Dao muttered to himself.

"What is?" Lumang asked, having heard him.

"Try doing it again."

"What; do you like seeing me fail miserably?" Lumang asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Just do it, please," Dao said determinedly. With a sigh, Lumang prepared himself once again; completely oblivious to what had happened seconds ago. As soon as Lumang was about to finish the finishing touch, Dao stopped him.

"Wait, hold it there," the lion ordered. Lumang froze in place. Dao rubbed his chin for a moment, then said, "Try placing your hand on the ground."

With a frown, Lumang bowed down, placing his palm on the ground. To his surprise, a wave of gray light shot out from his hand and traveled across the ground, making the nearby grass seem like a powerful gust was blowing by.

"I did it!" Lumang said surprised. "But how come I couldn't do it like you did?"

"That's what I find interesting," Master Dao said. "Let's take another…"

"Lumang, Lumang!" The two turned around and saw Tian come flying towards them. "Bandits are attacking the village!"

"Go help your friends," Master Dao told Lumang, who simply nodded in response and soon he ran towards the gate to the village.

* * *

Entering the village, Lumang found that Shifu and Ai Long had already arrived. The gang consisted of quite a few wolf thugs. Lumang didn't recognize them, but he quickly rushed in to help.

"Save some dummies for me, panda," he told Shifu as the latter knocked a wolf away with a kick.

"Then start doing something," Shifu replied. The red panda dodged an attack and countered with a jumping kick.

"Fine, let's get to it," Lumang said, popping his knuckles. As a wolf approached him as well, Lumang simply smashed a punch against his face, causing him to be thrown about.

Next Lumang quickly performed the same series of moves that he had learned the same day, using it to attack as well, hitting wolves with every pose. Finally Lumang bowed down, one leg bended, the other stretched along the ground.

Lumang then smashed his palm against the ground. He watched the Chi spread out across the ground and he smiled to himself in a satisfied manner as he saw that it managed to knock over two wolves.

"Wow, nice!" Ai Long said when she saw Lumang perform his technique.

"Yeah, Oblivion Quake has gotten a new meaning," Lumang said with a smile. Lumang got to his feet again and punched a wolf in the face, knocking him out, then blocked an incoming attack from another.

Blocking his attack with his hand, Lumang kicked him away and just in time, the elephant managed to catch his Long-Handled Sword as it fell from above. Lumang looked up to see Tian as he delivered Shifu and Ai Long's respective weapons to their owners.

As he was charged by a wolf, Lumang smashed the tip of his wooden sword against his chest. Lumang smiled cockily. "Are we about done here?" Next he used the sword to swing the wolf over his head, then smashed his sword against the next wolf and repeated this process.

Soon Fenghuang and Yun joined the three, descending from the sky.

"Don't tell us we're late," Yun chuckled while whacking down a wolf by the shoulder with his sword.

"Where were you?" Shifu asked with a somewhat annoyed tone to his voice.

"Training," Fenghuang replied as she swept the feet of a few wolves away with her wings. "How'd you get down here so fast anyway?"

"By going when Tian told us there was…" Ai Long stopped to jump out of range of a wolf's punch. She then jumped forth with an upwards kick, hitting his chin. "… Trouble; simple as that, Fenghy."

"Stop calling me that," Fenghuang said annoyed as she saw Yun chuckle. She kicked a wolf away while staying midair. "It sounds so… so…"

"Puny?" Lumang asked, chuckling. Fenghuang simple sighed, realizing this name would haunt her.

"Anyway, watch this, Fenghy," Lumang said. He then did the poses that were required to charge up his Chi.

"Finish: Oblivion Quake!" Finally Lumang smashed his sword vertically down against the ground. He hadn't even been certain whether this would actually work or not, but to his joy, it did.

A vertical shockwave of Chi shot forwards, managing to knock four wolves out of the way and onto the ground.

"Wow, amazing!" Fenghuang said amused. "Your attack's name finally makes sense!"

"What do you mean with that?" Lumang asked as he kicked a wolf in the chest. "My quake was always amazing – now it's just been improved!"

Most of the wolves fled; at least those that hadn't been knocked out. There had been quite a lot, but now only a handful remained. Shifu and the others formed a straight line, facing the remaining bandits.

"Shall we?" Shifu asked. The Furious Five then charged the bandits, forming into solo fights, each of them taking on one or two wolves.

Shifu took on two. He used his staff to fend them off and block their moves. Shifu then jumped into the air and kicked one backwards, then charged the other one, performing the Tahlia Leap.

He ran up to him, then jumped up, ran a few feet vertically up his front torso. Shifu then put all his power into his feet and leaped off. This managed to knock the wolf backwards and Shifu then prepared his staff.

"Jade… Dragon… Fang!" Successfully Shifu's staff hit the wolf in the stomach knocking him backwards. He kept flying, eventually hitting the wall of a building, knocking him unconscious.

Shifu then took on the next wolf. The canine had already been intimidated by Shifu's signature move and Shifu just needed to take one step towards him – then he fled. Shifu sighed to himself – he didn't like cowards… at all.

Ai Long jumped into the air, ding a backflip. She had had plenty of gymnastics training at home, so now that she could mix her skills up with her Kung Fu, she felt that she had become stronger.

She then locked her feet around a wolf's neck, then swung herself around, making him hit the ground hard. When the wolf got to his feet, he tried to punch Ai Long, but she easily blocked his punch, due to having weakened him with her attack. She then threw her Ring into the air and performed the Fists of Fury, punching him in the face countless times.

Finally, Ai Long caught her Ring again and performed a spin kick on the wolf, hitting his cheek and knocking him out.

Lumang swept the feet of a wolf away, then used his Chi charged fist to pin him to the ground, hitting him midair. The recessive Chi energy flowed across the wolf as it was a liquid of some sort, then vanished like steam.

Lumang then went onto the next slashing him several times with his sword, then performed the Sword Hilt Punch, smashing the hilt of his sword against the wolf's chest.

Next Lumang charged up his Chi, hitting the wolf with every pose. Lumang then took a hold of the wolf's fist as the latter tried to punch the elephant. Holding him in place, Lumang performed the Oblivion Quake once more, doing so right in front of the wolf, causing the massive impact to surely knock him out.

Meanwhile Yun jumped into the air, using Feet of Fury to rapidly kick some wolves in their chest areas, all while proclaiming his usual loud Kung Fu noises. Landing back on the ground, Yun switched his sword to backhand style and performed the Blade Edge Slasher.

Yun's fast and rapid slashes were impossible to block and the wolf didn't stand a chance. Yun then pulled a little back, then switched his sword so that he held it in a more standard fashion with the blade upwards. "Rooster Typhoon!"

Next Yun simply hurled his sword at his foe, making it spin around while doing so. Successfully it hit the wolf, knocking him out.

"Ugh, this is not what I wanted to be doing today." Fenghuang took off, then did a backwards loop in the air and raced towards a wolf, her talons first. Hitting the wolf in the chest, the impact caused him to fly about two meters backwards and land hard on the ground, knocking him out.

Fenghuang herself landed softly on the ground, then turned towards the secondary wolf. She jumped towards him and also started spinning around her own axis while midair. She hit him a few times with her Wing Blades, but when she finally landed back on the ground, she released her gathered Chi through her wing.

The purple wave of Chi hit the wolf, knocking him backwards. This caused him to hit the wall of a house, eventually landing on top of another wolf.

"Guess we have some cleaning up to do," Lumang said, looking around at the knocked out wolves.

* * *

"So, I believe I better head home," Master Dao said. It was early morning and everyone had recently finished breakfast.

"I do believe your students will be happy to have you back to help them," Master Oogway said. "Remember, you need only contact us if you all need our help."

"I don't think it's necessary," Master Dao said. "Your students took care of the bandits yesterday."

"Those thugs had also attacked your village?" Shifu asked surprised.

"Yes, but it seems they followed me here," Dao said. "I also suppose that means that my students managed to keep them away."

"So now they won't bother anyone?" Fenghuang asked skeptically. "They could easily just return."

"Yes, true," Master Dao admitted. "But for now you managed to chase them off. Farewell, Furious Five."

"Farewell," they all said in unison while bowing to the older Master. Lumang smiled to himself while doing so. Now Fenghy wasn't the only one with a fancy Chi technique, he thought.


	13. Lady of Nian Hua I

**A/N: **Hi guys! Sorry, it's been a while hasn't it? Well, so much has happened the last few days... there was prom... and graduation... and... well, now I'm back! And from now on I will start updating everything again. :)

* * *

Ai Long jumped high into the air. She then stretched out her leg horizontally, then slashed her foot downwards as she used her own weight to pull herself down. Her foot hit the mark that had been painted on the ground by Master Oogway.

"Well done, Ai Long," Oogway said. "You have almost mastered the Vertical Heaven Kick – all there is to work with now is perfecting it… Quite remarkable."

"Thanks, Master," Ai Long said calmly. The technique she was learning was one for Leopard Kung Fu – her style – and it was an advanced type of drop kick, which had hurt her foot somewhat on several occasions that day – it was pretty sore after the many hours of training.

The first part of the lesson had consisted of learning the position, which she would put her leg in; the second had consisted of becoming better at jumping high into the air. But now all that it needed was to practice both at the same time!

Suddenly Tian approached the two. The little goose gracefully landed beside Master Oogway, then whispered something to him. Ai Long just tilted her head slightly. It wasn't really because she was curious… Okay, maybe a little, she was… But it mainly because she was surprised by the fact that the old tortoise still kept certain things from her and the others.

Oh well, she thought. It probably wasn't any of her business anyway.

"Ai Long, please come with Tian," Master Oogway said in a serious tone of voice. Ai Long didn't know what it was about, but as she left she saw Oogway put on a faint smile, although that could have easily been but a mere mirage.

When Ai Long entered the Sacred Hall of Warriors alongside Tian, she was surprised at who she found.

"Mei Jiang!" Ai Long squealed surprised. Before long she had caught her younger sister in a hug. "What are you doing here?"

"Dad told me to come find you," the younger leopardess replied.

"But, wait, did you come here all on your own?"

Mei Jiang nodded. "Yeah, pretty much."

"Why didn't Zaofan or Bao come with you?" Ai Long asked confused.

"Well, they're busy right now, of course," Mei Jiang chuckled. Ai Long tilted her head in confusion. "It's Shui – he's getting married to Hua Fen!"

"R-Really?" Ai Long asked surprised. Shui was the oldest brother amongst Ai Long and her siblings. He was the one whose place Ai Long had taken at Jade Palace because of Hua Fen.

Fen's parents hadn't liked the idea of their daughter marrying Shui. Shui was mainly working as a local hero; he was very skilled with Kung Fu and he mainly used his skills to protect the village. The only other work he had (Which actually paid) was helping out in the nearby rice fields of Nian Hua.

Nian Hua was a fairly large village near the Valley of Peace.

"Yeah, the entire village is coming to see the wedding," Mei Jiang said. It wasn't a surprise to Ai Long – weddings rarely happened in Nian Hua and each and every one of them were public events. Besides, Shui was Nian Hua's local hero – of course people would come to show him their appreciation.

"The wedding is being prepared as we speak!" Mei Jiang said excitedly, the thirteen years old leopardess having her hands in the air in an excited manner. "You need to come too!"

"Of course I will," Ai Long said with a smile. "But I don't know if I can just leave."

"I spoke to Oogway about it," Tian told Ai Long, smiling. "He said that you were free to go as soon as you were ready.

* * *

"Have a safe trip," Shifu said the next day. "We hope you make it there safely."

"Of course," Ai Long said with a smile. She then nodded towards Mei Jiang. "The Kung Fu runs in our family!"

"And say hello to your family from us," Fenghuang added.

"Sure thing, Fenghy," Ai Long said, the nickname only causing Fenghuang's smile to become a bit more dull.

"Fenghy?" Mei Jiang asked as they left, trying to keep from laughing.

"That's a nickname I made for her," Ai Long chuckled, realizing that her sister found it funny. The two continued down the staircase towards the village and Ai Long took the time to ask, "How are mom and dad?"

"Fine, just as usual," Mei Jiang replied smiling. "Dad is still managing the store and mom is just… well, excited about her first-born getting married."

Ai Long just chuckled at this; of course their mother would become overjoyed whenever any of her children accomplished anything special – and seeing as this was the first child of hers that would get married, she was probably even smiling in her sleep.

"And the others?" Ai Long asked. "Our brothers and sisters… How are they?"

"Well, they're fine, I guess," Mei Jiang said, scratching the back of her head. She sighed. "But…"

"But what?" Ai Long asked immediately worried about whatever it could be that her sister was talking about.

"Well, Zaofan… He… well, I guess you could say he left."

"He left? Why?" Ai Long asked worriedly. Zaofan was the younger son in the family, who was two years younger than Ai Long, who was sixteen.

"No one knows," Mei Jiang sighed. "But… you know Zaofan."

"Yeah…" Ai Long thought about it. Even though she hadn't seen her family for quite a while, she did remember. Zaofan was the type who always felt like he had something to prove – not just to people around himself, but also to himself, seemingly.

"But… he just left?" Ai Long asked. "Had he been acting strange or did he just spontaneously leave like that?"

"I don't really know… I guess," Mei Jiang admitted with a shrug. The two were already walking through the village, having gotten down from the staircase rather fast.

"Hmm…" Ai Long didn't quite know what to say. She knew her younger brother could sometimes be difficult, so this was nothing unusual… although this situation was a bit unusual in itself – he had never 'left' before… at least not while Ai Long had lived at home. "So… how have you traveled here? By foot?"

"No, no, of course not," Mei Jiang replied. But then she added, "Well, partially anyway – I did travel with carriages some of the way – dad gave me some money."

"Why are you heading that way?" Mei Jiang asked her older sister as the two turned around a corner.

"I'm just doing to check and see if we can get easier to Nian Hua," Ai Long said. Mei Jiang didn't know what to expect and simply followed her sister through the village.

Seeing as her sister headed for what was seemingly some kind of post office, Mei Jiang couldn't help but tilt her head slightly in question. But without questioning, she simply trusted her sister and followed her into the store.

"Mr. Shan?" Ai Long asked upon entering. The store owner seemed to recognize her.

"Ah, Ai Long, what can I do for you?" Mr. Shan asked.

"Well, I was just wondering if you have anything that's supposed to be delivered to Nian Hua," Ai Long said, smiling at the old rabbit.

Mr. Shan then pulled up a scroll of some sort, then looked at it. As he was reading through it, the two young leopardesses waited patiently for Mr. Shan. Eventually, having read through the list, Mr. Shan turned to the two girls.

"Oh yes, I have a few wares that are supposed to be brought to Nian Hua," Mr. Shan told the two. "But I have just received them, so it will have to wait until tomorrow."

"Oh… okay, thanks! We'll just wait till tomorrow then," Ai Long said with a smile. She turned to her sister. "That means I can show you the village! Come on!"

Before Mei Jiang could even react, Ai Long grabbed her by her wrist and dragged her along.

* * *

The two leopardesses finally arrived. It had been quite a journey – it took about two days to get to Nian Hua! But the two sisters were finally there. On the way they had been accompanied by a big, strong-looking boar from Mr. Shan's shop.

Sure enough, he was strong – he had pulled a big carriage with a lot of different wares – but he hadn't been much help when the three had faced some bandits on the way. In fact, he was what Mei Jiang referred to as a coward.

"Thanks for the lift, Hong," Ai Long told the boar as the two leopardesses got off of the carriage.

"No problem," Hong replied and started dragging the carriage again, leaving the village, since he had more packaged to deliver. Before long, Ai Long and Mei Jiang made their way down the streets of Nian Hua, several people recognizing 'Ai Long Endian'. Most of them knew her from before she joined the Furious Five, but some only knew who she was because of this.

"So when will all this start?" Ai Long asked Mei Jiang as they walked towards their family's house.

"If I recall correctly, the astrologer will come today," Mei Jiang said, rubbing her chin. Ai Long nodded. She knew how a wedding worked, having heard about it from one of her friends.

The astrologer was some sort of… well, astrologer, who was supposed to see whether or not the two were compatible. Ai Long hadn't witnessed that before, so she looked forwards to it.

"Hopefully we're not late," Mei Jiang added. Finally Ai Long spotted her old home up ahead. She felt a strange tickling in her stomach, but in a good way – she was home again!

"Ah… looks just like the last time I saw it," she said happily as she came closer alongside her sister.

"What, did you expect us to spontaneously paint the house?" Mei Jiang asked jokingly. Ai Long just chuckled at her sister's comment and the two entered the house.

The house, on the inside, looked fairly neat and tidy – a family much richer than Ai Long's easily could have lived in the house. Hearing voices from the living room the two sisters entered.

"… and by this I can conclude that these two are not compatible," Ai Long almost tripped over her own feet upon hearing this.

"What?!" The sudden outburst made everyone turn around to face her. Her family seemed surprised, even more when they saw her. Quickly scanning the room, she saw Shui, Hua Fen and the two's families.

But what surprised Ai Long the most was the so-called Astrologer. Upon casting one look at him, she saw a reptilian, covered in scales that were different shades of brown all over – Meng.

"You?" Ai Long asked surprised. "What are you doing here?"

"Ai Long, please calm down," her father told her rather strictly.

"Dad, he's not an astrologer – he's just a creep, who…" But before Ai Long could finish, Meng zipped away, out of the nearest window. Ai Long was just about to follow, but was grabbed by the hand by her father.

"Not so fast, young lady," Mingzhi told his daughter. The middle-aged leopard had a very strict expression on his face.

"But dad…"

"Please, Ai Long, explain yourself," Mingzhi said strictly. Ai Long looked around the room at her mother, her siblings, Hua Fen and Hua Fen's family. She then looked back at her father.

"Dad, can't this wait?" Ai Long pleaded. Her father just kept up his strict face. "Alright fine, but not here…"

"Ai Long…" But before Mingzhi could continue, it knocked on the door. Mei Jiang hurried over to open, not wanting to get too involved.

"Dad the astrologer is here," Mei Jiang said upon returning to her family. Following her was a rabbit. He was seemingly fairly old and he wore some dark purple robes with black trims.

Ai Long suspiciously looked at him, but eventually decided with herself that he looked okay. However, suddenly her father grabbed her by her arm and led her outside. Seemingly he was a little confused as to what was going on.

"Now, explain yourself young lady," Mingzhi told his daughter.

"Okay, that fake astrologer before – the guy who jumped out of the window," Ai Long added to make her point clear. "I've met him before – all he really ever wants is to make people's lives miserable; that's why he said that Shui and Hua Fen weren't compatible."

"I see… In that case, good thing you showed up," Mingzhi said, eventually having changed his mind and view on the whole situation. At first he had simply thought that his daughter was simply being rude, but now it turned out that all she did was help her brother.

"But this guy seems okay," Ai long said, referring to the actual astrologer. "I've never seen him before."

"Alright, then come," Mingzhi told his daughter and headed for the living room.

* * *

"Ai Long, it's been so long!" Bao told her younger sister. "It's a pleasure to see you again."

"Haha, you too," Ai Long said with a smile. Since her older sisters Chen and Bao had both moved out, she hadn't seen them very much. "How have you been?"

"I have been fine," Chen told her younger sister. "Not much has happened here lately."

"Yeah, the question is: How have you been?" Bao said with a smile. Ai Long had always looked up to her older sisters because they were so beautiful, yet kind… and so had Mei Jiang.

"I've been doing great," Ai Long replied with a smile. "Living at the Jade Palace is amazing."

"The training is not too hard?" Bao asked with a smile.

"A little challenging, but nothing I can't handle," Ai Long said with a smile. "Before you know it, I'll be a Master!"

"Sounds great, sis," Chen chuckled. "I'm looking forwards to hearing people talk about you… well, more than they already do."

"People talk about me?" Ai Long asked surprised.

"I told you!" Mei Jiang chuckled. Ai Long just shrugged.

"Hehe, at least the two were compatible, after all," Ai Long said with a smile, referring to Shui and Hua Fen.

"Yeah, because we totally hadn't planned the entire wedding already," Bao chuckled. "I'm really looking forwards to it."

"Me too," Ai Long said. "So now we're going to plan their wedding, right?"

"Actually we already did," Bao said, putting her hand on Chen's shoulder, letting off a jolly giggle.

"You did?" Mei Jiang asked surprised. "Why didn't you let me help?"

"You're too young," Bao teased, although Ai Long could clearly tell that she was somewhat serious. "But you can feel free to plan Ai Long's when that one comes."

"Haha, sure," Ai Long said, blushing slightly, scratching the back of her head. She then muttered to herself, "If that'll ever happen."

"So… when is the wedding?" Mei Jiang asked.

"That's up to mom and dad," Chen said. She put her hands behind her back. "And knowing dad, it'll most likely be tomorrow."

* * *

Ai Long sat on the front porch of the Endian-house. She was trying to figure out what to do. She had clearly seen Meng earlier – of course – but Ai Long didn't know what to do.

She knew her family was eager to hear about her experiences with the others at Jade Palace, but she felt like she'd better go look for the guy. After all, who knew what kinds of trouble the lizard was up to?

But eventually Ai Long decided to do so. She walked through the village, looking for the troublemaker. She met a lot of people along the way – people she knew – such as childhood-friends and even a few family members.

By afternoon, Ai Long still hadn't managed to find the little troublemaker, which was… well, troubling, for lack of better term.

As much as she wanted to continue her search, Ai Long soon found herself at a dinner table along with the rest of her family… except her younger brother, Zaofan.

"So tell us a little about your training," Ai Long's mother, Aiyun, told her second-youngest daughter in a soft tone.

"Well, at first we had a bad start, I guess," Ai long explained, briefly scratching the back of her head. "There was quite some drama between some of the guys."

"You train alongside boys?" Mingzhi asked, raising an eyebrow.

"So what if she does?" Shui asked smugly. "I would have if I had gone, plus, I would have trained with girls too."

Mei Jiang giggled at her oldest brother's remark and Ai Long tried not to.

"Watch your tongue, boy," Mingzhi warned his son, but all Shui did was simply to smile smugly.

"Where's Zaofan?" Ai Long suddenly asked, immediately casting silence over the dinner table. Aiyun and Mingzhi looked at each other without speaking for a moment.

"He's… not home," Mingzhi replied, stating the obvious.

"Yes, but where is…?" Ai Long stopped when Mei Jiang softly kicked her leg beneath the table. Looking over at her younger sister, Ai Long heard her whisper that she would tell her later. Ai Long did know that Zaofan was gone, obviously, but she didn't know where and why.

Eventually Ai Long told some more about her life at the palace and some things about her fellow students and what they had all been through. She even told them how she had become more confident in her fighting during one of the first days.

But soon Ai Long and Mei Jiang managed to 'escape' the living room once the Endian family was done eating. Ai Long turned towards her sister, "Okay, fill me in."

"Well, Zaofan left because he and dad… well, they had kind of a fight," Mei Jiang said. "It started as a discussion – you know the kind that Zaofan usually starts… But then it ended up as a fight."

Ai Long kept quiet for a moment. Something about this didn't feel right… at all. "I have to find him… I have a bad feeling about him missing."


End file.
